


Forget What You Know

by OneSkyOneDestiny127



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, It gets fairly graphic so be warned, M/M, Mash of universes from BL1 BL2 TPS and TFTBL, Rated T for Violence, Slow Build, Vault Hunter - Assassin AU, vault hunter au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 35,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneSkyOneDestiny127/pseuds/OneSkyOneDestiny127
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One or the other? Left or right? Sword or gun? Bandit or creature? Decision after decision; a never ending cycle of what is wrong and what is right. Pandora wasn't built to be easy nor straightforward, and neither were the ones that were raised there. On Pandora, you either went with your gut, or with your heart; take a life or lose yours. There was no middle ground on Pandora. The only way to discover your fate was to either dance with danger or play it safe with what you knew. Yet, he was never one for sticking to what seemed right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode 1: Stained Hands

“Where’d he go?”

_ Two marauders, two nomads. _

“Ooo, I never get to taste Vault Hunter meat! I hope it’s taaaasty!” 

_ Three psychos. Plenty in hiding. _

“C’mon out, you dick bag! We know you’re hiding here!”

Rhys surveyed the area rapidly, blue arrows pointing in numerous directions, each one telling him a different way to move about the camp and eliminate the bandits. Only one caught his eye; there was a clear shot through the camp, the bandits patrolling and searching only offering limited view for self protection. His target was hiding in one of the shacks near the middle of the camp, but he wasn’t sure which. He shifted on his haunches, drawing his sniper rifle from his back as he angled the weapon to target the nearest marauder. He had been caught but had since moved from his previous position, allowing him to be undetected. His ECHO whirred quietly in his skull, setting up the perfect shot as he pulled the trigger. The marauder went down, and his next targets were the psychos rushing at him from afar. 

Rhys easily slung his rifle back, drawing his sword with a swift flick of his wrist, the ancient weapon making a clean cut through muscle and spine when he swung. The splatter of blood on his face made him narrow his eyes briefly, but he drove the blade into the next psychos’ lungs, twisting the hilt to hear bone crack. He used the psycho stuck on his sword as cover from the gunfire that began to fly at him at lightning speeds. 

_ Tremor to the west. _

Rhys ducked back down behind the cement wall that he found, counting down for the tremor that would surely pass through the area. He grabbed his bayonet, the familiar rumble of the earth meeting the camp a few moments later. With his hood drawn up over his head, he catapulted over the cement wall, his feet moving expertly over the shaking earth. The nearest enemy was a nomad, and the knife on the bayonet penetrated the bandits’ neck before he pulled the trigger, another spray of blood splattering against his cheeks. 

_ Tremor passing in 5… _

Rhys tsked, the short lived quake being less helpful than he had hoped. He rushed to the next bandit, this nomad receiving a knife to his temple with a coordinated throw, Rhys pushing off the fallen body to launch himself over a barricade of boxes. The shaking ground proved to be a hard surface to land on, and his feet stumbled upon landing. He regained his composure just in time for the tremor to pass, leaving the bandits to recollect themselves. 

Two psychos rushed at him while nomads and marauders began to shoot at him from afar, shouting slurs and insults. Rhys felt his shield activate for a split second when a well aimed bullet attempted to penetrate his throat, the familiar blue haze wrapped around his body. The next moment, he side stepped as the psycho attempted to slam his axe into his shoulder, his bionic arm not wasting a beat to flex and dig sharp, clawed fingers into the psychos arm. The psycho let out a pained scream, attempting to threaten Rhys, but Rhys was already on the move. 

With a swift movement of his much stronger bionic arm, he was sending the psycho toppling into his counterpart. His flesh hand gripped the handle of his sword, taking a brief running step forward to slam the blade into the two psychos, creating a clean cut through two sets of chests as he used the stuck blade to flip over the bodies. 

_ Grenade. _

He swooped down an instant later, his ECHO informing of a grenade by his feet. He gripped the detonating grenade and tossed it back towards the three nomads that had thrown it, throwing a knife in the direction of the grenade so the nomads had no chance to escape from the explosion. Rhys’s head whipped around and examined the area, spotting more bandits coming out from where they were sleeping causing him to grit his teeth. They exited the shacks running in a beeline, leaving too much opportunity for a quick and easy mow down. Rhys drew his dagger, the marauder that shot at him being his next victim. 

_ Marauder, two pyros, one psycho. _

Rhys flexed his wrist, a smirk spreading across his lips as he rushed at the marauder. He jammed the sharp dagger into his jaw, using the momentum and the gravity to help him flip over the pyro. The psycho, as predicted, let out an angry scream and ran between the two pyros to get to Rhys. He heard the click of the pyros preparing their flamethrowers simultaneously, Rhys activating his shield a moment later as the fire engulfed around him, able to hear the psycho’s desperate screams over the sound of the crackling flames.

_ Shield at 67%. _

The second the flamethrowers were deactivated, he readjusted his firm grip on his sword, swiping in an upward arch, cleaving through the nearest pyro, easily cutting a clear cavity into the bandit's chest. He jumped onto the last remaining bandit, toppling the pyro over, his sword slicing through the bandits’ right shoulder into the earth below from the force he brought. He glared down at the struggling pyro, his bionic arm pinning the bandits free arm to the ground. “Where’s your leader?”

“I ain’t tellin you shit, Vault Hunter!” The pyro shouted, the pain making his voice strained.

Rhys let out a disappointed sigh, twisting the bandits arm with a swift movement before he forced it to bend, the resounding snap echoing around the camp that reeked of dirty clothes and burning flesh. “I wasn’t looking for that type of answer. Where. Is. Your. Leader?” 

The bandit winced and let out a pained yelp at the snap of his forearm, the protruding bone making his attention stay there. “H-he isn’t here!"

“Don’t be a liar, I really don’t like liars. I should tell you what happened to the last person that lied to me, but I won’t.” Rhys seethed, eyes narrowing. “Your leader took something important from me and I want it back.” Rhys’s clawed fingers thrust into the soft flesh, bone cracking a second time from the sheer force of his bionic claws. 

The pyro tilted his head back as he howled in pain, “J-just look, Vault Hunter! You know where he is!” 

Rhys stood and ripped the sword from his shoulder, flicking off the blood that stained his black arm. “I wanted a direct answer.” Rhys hissed, his sword penetrating the mask the pyro adorned a moment later. “Guess I’ll have to destroy every single one of these shacks to find your puny leader.” Just as Rhys turned, his ECHO gave a blaring notice.

_ Suicide psycho! _

Rhys blinked in surprise, his eyes landing on the suicide psycho that was standing just in front of him, the detonation on the bomb beeping more furiously as it came closer to its explosion. He put his arms up in a cross in front of his face, his shield activating a moment too late as some of the blast was received by the front of his body. He was thrown slightly back, his heels digging into the sand below before he toppled over. The searing pain that spread across his arm quickly made itself apparent and he grimaced, though he willed himself to ignore the pain for the time being. He had a contract to fulfill, and based on the pain, it wasn’t life threatening. 

He scanned the environment more thoroughly now that the bandits were gone, and he shook his left arm out multiple times as he strolled through the small camp. He looked through each shack, eye scanning every unknown item to store into his memory until he came across the only hovel with a living body in it. Rhys stood outside the gently flapping tarp that covered the entrance to the shack, waiting for the bandit leader to jump out in a flurry of anger and bloodlust, but was surprised when nothing happened.

“Scared?” Rhys called in, waiting for a response this time, though none came. He tsked and stepped inside, the yell of “surprise” sounding out behind a pair of lockers as the bandit leader - a larger psycho - came charging at him. Expecting the attack, Rhys grabbed the arm of the psycho and forced him to release the axe he clutched tightly onto. He flipped the psycho onto the ground and hooked his fingers into three of the throwing knives on his belt, taking one sweep of his arm to throw the knives down into the leader, pinning each of his palms to the disease infested floor and a third to skirt his ear. 

The psycho hissed in pain and began to shout profanities at Rhys, “Eating you would be so tasty! Soft flesh, weak body, juicy meat! Make a nice face!” 

“Shut up.” Rhys rolled his eyes and crouched beside the leader, his right arm stretching to allow his pointer finger to extend, the claw being replaced with a curved thin one. He pressed it into the leader's neck, eyes narrowed as he spoke. “You took something from a member of Atlas. Where is it?”

“Something - something!” The leader roared, his arms wiggling to attempt to dislodge the knives holding his hands down, “I’ll do something to you; I’ll rip you limb from limb!” 

Rhys resisted the urge to plunge the claw into the exposed neck of the psycho, but he knew he needed the information. “You took a gun from Atlas and I’m here to retrieve it. Tell me and maybe I’ll let you live.”

“Atlas… Atlas,” The psycho droned out multiple times, his head thrashing back and forth as he attempted to kick Rhys in the back. “Took Atlas people, listened to them scream for us! Amazing! Warm, juicy! Their bones were weak! Like carrots!”

Rhys grit his teeth and leaned down, the claw forcing a thin line of blood to appear as he pressed harder into his neck. “I’m going to give you two more seconds to answer before I kill you. Let me ask you again: where is the gun you stole from Atlas? Did you sell it? Attempt to destroy it? Throw it somewhere?” Rhys offered viable explanations for where the item was, his patience wearing off the more he listened to the vile things the psycho screamed.

“Sell! Sell, sell, sell! To people with big guns behind them, waiting to rip apart people's’ flesh who intrude!” The psycho laughed, his voice becoming more ragged the longer he spoke.

“Who? More bandits? Bloodshots? Hyperion? Crimson Lancers?” Rhys figured he’d tack Atlas’s own division of war soldiers into the mix, knowing that the Crimson Lancers could easily have the weapon but not realize it was a prototype.

The psycho twisted and turned, “No clue! Maybe it wasn’t sold!” 

Rhys shook his head and growled, “Useless.” He slit the throat of the psycho a moment later, standing and flicking the blood off his claw as it retracted. He looked around the small shack the leader was holed up in and began to rifle through boxes. There was a good chance that the psycho didn’t know what he sold and what he had, and there was an even greater chance that the gun he needed was hiding in one of the many containers that they collected. 

Rhys flipped open lids and scanned the contents with an easy glance over, waiting for the ECHO to pick up the familiar register of Atlas weapons. About halfway through his search through the boxes containing mostly bullets and knives (along with mysterious smells that Rhys didn’t want to know the origins of), he found the prototype weapon resting beneath a pile of pistols. He pulled the SMG out and checked the damage done to it, noticing nothing extreme had happened to it besides a few scratches that appeared on the surface. He clipped the gun to an extra strap he had on his back and stretched, the cloth of his outfit rubbing against the burn on his arm. He took the moment to examine the red, blistering skin and let out a sigh. It wouldn’t be a problem that a bandage couldn’t fix. 

He stepped over the leader's body as he exited the shack, holding his bionic arm out as he called Atlas. The familiar voice made him relax just slightly, now beginning to head back to the facility he worked for.

“Rhys! Good to see you made it. Did you find it?” Vaughn’s face appeared in the holographic phone, a happy smile on his lips for seeing Rhys still breathing. Rhys gave a brief nod in response, offering his own slight smile to his friend.

“Mhm. Heading back now. Should be there by… sundown on foot.” Rhys explained, showing Vaughn the weapon on his back. “I’ve been doing this for years and I still can’t get over how disgusting these damn psychos are.”

Vaughn shuddered in agreeance, a worried expression creeping onto his face. “I second that. They seem to get worse as the years go by,” Vaughn said, cutting Rhys off from speaking, “Oh, there’s word going around you have another contract waiting for you when you come back. Something big, not bandit related.”

Rhys let out a loud groan and rolled his head back, “Are you serious? I’ve worked nonstop for the past, like, 4 months. Can’t I get a break? I’d like to go get some more leads on this Vault instead of waiting for them to finish the Gortys Project.” Rhys spoke exasperatedly, “Did you hear anything about the details?”

Vaughn shrugged, “No, sorry, man. Apparently it’s an important one, though. I don’t see a way to get any time off before it if it’s as important as people are whispering it is.”

“This sucks,” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck and slid his hood off his head, letting the warm breeze ruffle his sweat soaked hair. “Give me the tracker for the Catch-A-Ride, I don’t want to walk all the way back to Atlas. Keep me posted if you hear anything about this contract.” 

“Will do. See you soon.” Vaughn said, Rhys closing his hand to end the conversation. Rhys took a deep breath through his nose and shut his eyes briefly, stopping in his tracks as he reached his bionic hand up to trace over the scar on his cheek. The shallow beginning at the outer corner crease of his right eye trailed down to his jaw, deepening in the middle before it curled off on his jaw. It was a scar that had been there since he was younger, about 15 years younger. He began to walk again when his ECHO received the information for the nearest Catch-A-Ride, remembering the fateful day that led to this crazy adventure. 

15 years back, he was a rather weak, cocky 12 year old. He grew up on Pandora, shouting things at the top of his lungs about how he wanted to be a Vault Hunter. No one believed he could do it, since his relatively thin frame suggested that he’d be eaten and chewed up by Pandora’s finest baddies and creatures within a day. Rhys never let that get to him, though, always believing that if he tried hard enough, he’d become as skilled as some of the most notorious Vault Hunters on Pandora. 

The only way he was able to become so skilled  was when one of those Vault Hunters had chased his target through the deserted streets of Hollow Point, straight into the unsuspecting house of Rhys’s. 

A group of rioting bandits stormed the house in an attempt to flee from the chasing Vault Hunter, and in the crossfire, Rhys’s parents were slaughtered, with Rhys only receiving a slash to the face before he was (thankfully) saved by the Vault Hunter. Most children would be terrified of everything from that point on, but after the initial shock of losing his parents and the brief time between the group of bandits leaving and the Vault Hunter returning, he had gathered himself up enough to say that he wanted to be stronger.

Rhys let out a bitter laugh at the memory of the bandits that rampaged through his homme. The yelling, shouting, foul words they elicited as they attempted to escape the chasing Vault Hunter was something he never forgot. The brunette checked his map, changing direction as he noticed he had gone only slightly off course from where he needed to be, mind drifting back to the memories he stored from his childhood.

That Vault Hunter was the reason Rhys had become so agile. Zer0, after chasing out the bandits, had gone back to check on him to make sure a needless casualty of a family wasn’t in the middle of his assignment. As soon as Zer0 arrived in the bloody, destroyed house, he saw that only the child had made it. While he should've walked away there, knowing that there was nothing he could do for the boy and his contract was fulfilled, he found himself talking to Rhys. 

_ “Are you alright?”  _

_ “I-I’m fine…” _

_ “You are cut on your / cheek. Let me-” _

_ “You are so cool! You’re Zer0, right? I’ve seen the posters up all over the place - you do these cool tricks and moves and you can create a holographic copy of yourself while you move around! That’s just so cool! Do you think you could teach me?” _

Zer0 rejected Rhys’s begging for training at first, the boys pleads only making him want to leave quicker. Zer0 was set on the fact that Rhys was too young and naive to handle the outside world of Pandora, but Rhys didn’t stop in his tracks. Rhys followed Zer0 around Hollow Point as Zer0 attempted to leave, but after a solid 20 minutes of begging and “showing off,” Zer0 decided to take Rhys under his wing. He thought that it’d be safer if he trained the child than let him try to train himself against the multitudes of dangers on Pandora. 

After Zer0 had accepted Rhys as his apprentice, training began. Rhys was determined but most certainly weak right off the bat - he was tense and clumsy which served for him to fall and stumble more often than not, his arms having trouble lifting the sword that Zer0 provided him. He was quiet, and Zer0 knew that the death of his parents had to have weighed heavily on his conscious.

Despite not knowing Rhys before the incident, Zer0 picked up that Rhys wasn’t himself. The few times that the Vault Hunter had come in contact with Rhys’s childhood friends Vaughn, Fiona, and Sasha, they all pointed out that their friend wasn’t himself. Zer0 tried not to bring it up, waiting for the young boy to talk about it himself. He was never one to push on feelings talk in the first place. 

The brunette let out a sigh, hands pressing into hot rock as he clambered down a cliff side, the nearest Catch-A-Ride being at the base. Rhys wiped his hands clean as he stepped up to the Catch-A-Ride and deployed the vehicle, briefly examining the burn on his forearm, climbing in a moment later to drive back to Atlas, his thoughts staying on the memories that surfaced.

It took until the first “mission” for Rhys to talk about what was off about him. 

When the first year was up and Rhys was becoming skilled in using the sword that he carried with him, Zer0 decided to take Rhys out to a small bandit camp he found. At most, there was only one nomad and two psychos there at a time, as the camp was used as a midway point between a couple of the bigger forts that rested on either side of a vast stretch of desert. Zer0 had made sure that the camp wasn’t crawling with bandits before bringing Rhys there, and he let Rhys take the lead on the mission. 

Surprising Zer0, Rhys was rather quick to adapt to the situation as the camp held three nomads and four psychos, which Zer0 hadn’t expected. His previous scouting that morning must’ve missed the new group meeting up with the resting bandits, but with how Rhys reacted to the new problem, he hung back and allowed his apprentice to fight by himself.

Rhys’s movements were slightly clunky but well timed, his feet moving him to twirl out of the way of danger and his arms to bring his sword up when a makeshift melee weapon was thrown down at him. His face stayed stone cold, eyes darting around every so often to keep an eye on the shouting nomads, the psychos threats seeming to fall on deaf ears. The year of training gave Rhys plenty to work with, and while he received only a couple cuts, he was relatively fluid in his movements. He had a knack for fighting and a passion for what Zer0 did on a daily basis. Zer0 would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t impressed by the young boy.

But, as Zer0 approached Rhys in the camp, blood staining his clothes in blotches and splattered against his neck, he could see the expression on the boys face. Melancholy hung in the air around him, weighing down the atmosphere, his eyebrows creased in the center and his head tilted at a 70 degree angle, corners of his lips pointing down as his eyes remained focused on the last bandit he had killed. 

_ “Is there something wrong?” _

_ A moment of silence passed between the two as the boy tried to form a proper sentence. “I’m trying to avenge a family that isn’t around anymore. Why? It’s not like once I get what I want, I can return home and get a hug from my mom and have her tell me she’s proud of me, or get a clap on the back from my dad and have him tell me that I’m doing great.” Rhys started, never looking at Zer0 as he spoke, “I wanted to be a Vault Hunter but then that happened and I… I dunno, I just wish that I had family to go home to to be proud of me.” _

_ Zer0 placed a hand on Rhys’s shoulder, “Family is not / just blood. Kin are not the sole / ones who can be proud.” Zer0 had replied easily, bringing the boy's gaze to his masked face. As soon as Rhys’s brown eyes landed on Zer0, Zer0 displayed a, “<3” on his mask, and for Rhys, that meant more than he could ever put into words. _

Rhys smiled fondly at the memory, his thoughts drifting to the whereabouts of his mentor. When Rhys had accepted that avenging his family wasn’t going to be his only goal and Zer0 reached out to him on an emotional level, things changed much more drastically in his training regime. The next four years of practice and guidance led to Rhys becoming the agile person he was now. His slow movements and misguided feet were trained to move along shaking ground, arms able to switch between sword and gun with a blink of the eye, and he was able to kill with no fear in his mind. 

His eyes travelled to his bionic arm as he stopped the car at Atlas, his fingers flexing slightly. He had been trained to excel when he had two human arms, but with the incident that happened that brought him to his ECHO transplant and bionic arm, he became much more powerful. Rhys remembered that he had left Zer0’s side, going off on his own to “show off” his skills at the tender age of 17, when it happened. It-

“Rhys! About time you got back!” Vaughn called, snapping Rhys out of his thoughts with a surprised blink. Vaughn walked out of the Atlas building, heading straight to Rhys’s car as the older brunette climbed out of it. “Atlas has been asking me every 20 minutes when you were going to be here with the weapon.”

Rhys rolled his eyes, “They couldn’t even wait for me to come back? I’m not Lilith, I can’t teleport wherever I need to be.” Rhys said, reaching around to unclip the SMG from his straps, holding it in his hands. He followed Vaughn inside, the pleasant, air conditioned breeze washing over his still hot body. 

“Of course not, they really wanted this back. Well, and you. They kept saying they need to give you this next contract as soon as possible,” Vaughn explained, his fingers twitching and tapping against his outer thigh, “I… did hear a little about it. Very small amount. I know you said to call you but I figured you’d be back soon and-”

“What’d you hear, Vaughn?” Rhys stopped in his tracks, his friends fidgeting and antics making him concerned. Vaughn was the worry-wart when it came to Rhys’s contracts, but he was never this nervous. He was aware of how capable and strong Rhys was; after so many contracts and times out in the field, Vaughn wasn’t usually this fearful for a contract. This only served to make Rhys concerned for what his friend had heard - if the contract was truly this bad.

Vaughn changed the direction he stared in every two seconds, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find his voice once more. Upon Rhys clearing his throat to snap Vaughn back into existence, Vaughn spilled, “I heard that this contract was one many other assassins have attempted and failed. Strong ones, Vault Hunters, just like you. Only a couple actually came back alive but they were so badly injured they couldn’t continue doing what they wanted to.” 

Rhys narrowed his eyes, a million different ideas popping into his head. Not much could kill Vault Hunters, and injuring them to the point of stopping their passion was no easy task either. Skags, bullymongs, rakks - no animal on Pandora could cause  _ that _ much damage, and Vaughn had said that this contract had no affiliation with bandits this time. Rhys reached up to scratch at his jaw, wracking his brain for any inclination or possibility that the contract could be.  _ No bandits, no animals, no organizations… Another company? Dahl? Jakobs?  _

Color drained only slightly from Rhys’s face, his breathing momentarily stopped as it clicked in his head.

“...Hyperion.” Rhys muttered, his lips barely moving, voice dropping to a hushed whisper. Vaughn asked for him to repeat himself, but Rhys shook his head, his hair brushing the sides of his face. He smoothed a hand over the mussed brunette locks, a twitch of his lips showing a smile. “Nothing, buddy. I’m going to go ahead and get this contract - wait for me at your desk and we can leave afterwards.” Rhys ordered, not giving Vaughn a chance to question nor confirm as he turned heel and walked briskly down the halls of Atlas.

There were only two things that could kill a Vault Hunter: another Vault Hunter and… Handsome Jack.

Rhys remembered each Vault Hunter that he had met before Jack rose to power. Each one had a vastly different personality - some were short tempered but caring, others stoic and emotionless, some spunky and funny, some badass and terrifying. Each one that Rhys had met through Zer0 had been terminated by Jack. How that bastard on Hyperion managed to do it, Rhys had no idea. Being as strong as he was now, Rhys knew that taking down one of his own would be difficult. Athena, Brick, Mordecai, Zer0, Axton, Salvador, Maya; Vault Hunters were like trying to fight trains. Trains going a million miles an hour without making a sound that were reinforced by 50 tons of steel. 

But, somehow, Jack managed to wipe out so many of them. 

Rhys bit his tongue to stop himself from sighing, eyes shutting as he stopped outside the CEO’s office. If this was going to be a contract to kill Jack, he would need to train for it. If killing Jack were so simple, he’d be dead already.

With a hard rap of his knuckles against the heavy door, Rhys heard the distant, “Come in.” He stepped into the CEO’s office, face remaining neutral as he was told to sit and that there was much to discuss. 

 

* * *

 

“Listen, listen! I really could use a couple drinks and I really think rounding up the girls and heading out to one of the bars would be fantastic.” Rhys snapped, his voice strained from the stress that was building in his core. He hated drinking, but sometimes it the was the best medicine to a long day working as an assassin.

Vaughn let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged, “If it’s seriously that important to you that you get a drink, then fine. Let’s go grab the girls and head out to the Purple Skag.” Vaughn said, standing up from his desk.

“And deal with August? God, every time we’re there he’s drooling over Sasha. It’s disgusting,” Rhys countered, his arms folded and pressed against his chest as he looked towards Vaughn, an annoyed expression taking hold of his face. “I swear, I’m about two flirtatious sentences away from beating the shit out of that guy. Doesn’t he realize that Sasha, I dunno,  _ isn’t _ interested?”

Vaughn sniggered and shrugged, grabbing the metal thermos that sat on his desk. “I don’t think he’ll ever get that hint. He thinks he’s smart but I think he’s just a lovestruck puppy,” Vaughn explained, following Rhys out of the Atlas building. As soon as they stepped foot into the sun, heat attacked them from all angles, forcing a groan out of Vaughn’s lips. “I hate this heat.”

“Either way, I think he needs to cool off on her. And, I agree, this heat can kiss my ass.” Rhys grumbled, climbing into the driver's seat as another warm breeze swirled the sand on the ground in a small tornado. He waited for Vaughn to be secured in his seat (Vaughn wouldn’t admit it but he was terrified of the Catch-A-Ride cars because of how open the seats were), starting the car afterwards as he drove towards Hollow Point.

A comfortable silence settled around the two, aside from the sound of the roaring winds in their ears. Rhys was “focused” on driving, his mind constantly wandering to the contract he received. If he wasn’t careful and didn’t put his whole being into it, he’d be killed in no time flat, and Rhys was not ready to die anytime soon. There was too much to be done for him to give up and accept fate - he had to at least find  _ one  _ Vault before he called it quits and kicked the can.. 

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, his lips drawn into a thin line the more he thought. Zer0 had told him that being an assassin meant dangerous tasks - life threatening tasks - but Rhys would’ve never expected to get this assignment. He was confident in his skill, but his target wasn’t one to be trifled with. Not in a million years did he think that he’d get a contract to assassinate Handsome Jack; the one who had eliminated so many Vault Hunters in the past. 

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. How could he not be? Stronger Vault Hunters, much stronger ones, had died at the hands of Jack (or more like his extensive technology) and Rhys didn’t feel that his skill was on par with the Vault Hunters that Jack had killed. Even if he was able to get up to Hyperion unnoticed, it’d be impossible to get close to Jack. The walls were wide but people walking about were sparse, Loader Bots of all shapes and sizes roamed the halls, devoted citizens walked briskly back and forth from where they needed to be, no doubt ready to point out any suspicious activity, and plenty of guards with guns patrolled areas without pause.

This contract might be his last, and the only thing he wanted was to set it off on a good note; spend some time with Vaughn, Fiona and Sasha and try to see if Zer0 had a minute to spare before he began preparations to head to the floating death trap that was Hyperion.

“Oh, so what’s the new contract? Nothing too serious?” Vaughn broke his thoughts, causing him to glance towards his friends face. Concern still drifted into his eyes, and Rhys knew he couldn’t tell Vaughn what the assignment was until later. It’d ruin the night of drinking and that was the last thing he wanted.

So, Rhys leaned back comfortably in his seat and scoffed, “They were totally lying about this ‘super serious’ contract - it’s nothing but a little spying mission on the other companies. Sure, it’s dangerous, but it’s not as bad as everyone was whispering it was.” Rhys lied, his poker face in play. He stopped at the hideout and slid out of the car, expecting Vaughn to follow but he noticed Vaughn’s expression change. “Something wrong?”

Vaughn stared at his hands for a moment longer, a sudden jolt bringing him to awareness that Rhys spoke to him. “What? Sorry, totally spaced out there.”

“I asked if something was wrong?” Rhys reiterated, stopping in his tracks to raise an eyebrow. Vaughn wasn’t one to space out like this.

“Nah, I’m totally fine,” Vaughn’s smile was forced, his body tense as he shimmied out of the vehicle and hurried past Rhys, leaving Rhys to question what was up with Vaughn. If the slightly younger man was wondering why he was lying, he’d need to wait.  _ Just a few hours of blissful ignorance and he’ll know the truth, along with Fiona and Sasha.  _

Rhys inhaled deeply and followed Vaughn into the hideout, being bombarded instantly by Fiona. He blinked and took a step back in surprise, his heart jumping into his throat when he came face to face with the woman. “Dammit, Fi, don’t scare me like that. Why are you eve-”

“Vaughn said you’re hiding a contract,” Fiona snapped, her arms crossed as she leaned in closer to Rhys, the brunette instantly arching backwards as he turned his head away. “How dangerous is this? You can’t hide it from us forever, you know, we’ll eventually find out.”

“W-what are you talking about, huh? I told him what the contract was, it’s just a simple spying job on DAHL and Jakobs and all them,” Rhys explained, a chuckle passing his lips. He hated how quick these three were to tear down his normal defenses. They’d all been best friends since they were young, watching each other grow up and fight each others battles (everyone pitched in when it came to protecting Vaughn), going through the same heartache together, leaning on one another for support - the only difference out of the four of them was that Rhys was rarely around when he was a teen. 

“I know it’s not just a ‘simple spying job,’ Rhys. It’s going to be harder than you think to convince us otherwise at this point.” Vaughn replied, settling himself down on the couch as he looked between Fiona and Rhys.

Rhys bit back his snappy retort, digging into the depths of his mind to find a good lie that could seem like the truth. He’d need to act fast or Fiona was going to get more in his face about telling the truth. “O-okay, uh, well, maybe I made a little fib about what exactly I’m doing, like the whole… spying on company's part. It’s still high profile, don’t get me wrong, but it does include assassination. No one suuuuper dangerous, but someone who could definitely prove to be a nuisance. It’s just a… rogue employee.” Rhys rambled slightly, his eyes darting around the hideout briefly before he settled on staring at a new gun that rested on the table.

“He’s so lying,” Sasha commented, her hip jutted out to the left with her arms crossed. “Guy can’t keep his eyes still when he’s lying to us.” 

“I’m not lying!” Rhys pointed a finger at her, a pout forming on his lips. “I know what I need to do - it’s top secret so I can’t even tell you what I’m doing.” 

Fiona scoffed and straightened her back, her eyes darting between each of Rhys’s own. There was a silent war going between the two, each asking for different things through their eye contact. 

_ Tell me. _

**_Don’t beg like that._ **

_ We deserve to know. _

**_Not yet, stop asking._ **

_ Why do you need to hide anything? _

**_Stop. Asking._ **

_ Just- _

“Stop doing that thing,” Vaughn chimed in when the tension seemed to be rising, “That thing where you stand there and look into each other's eyes and fight mentally, it’s creepy, and super weird.” 

Rhys exhaled sharply, shaking his head in disappointment. He let his eyes close and tilted his head down, mulling over his options. There was the option to lie again - or attempt to -, tell them to back off and get angry, or tell them the truth. All those options would just lead to the night being ruined. It’d be another hot night on Pandora with the looming fact that he’d need to part ways tomorrow afternoon to head to Hyperion. This contract didn’t have any downtime; it was either now or never, and he couldn’t skip out on what could be the last chance for him to hang out with his three best friends. 

“Can you guys pester me about this later? Please?” Rhys slowly spoke, the tiredness in his voice showing, a hand reaching to rub at the back of his neck. “I could really use a couple hours of ignorance, if you don’t mind. I swear I’ll tell you all when we’ve had some drinks and laughed a lot.” Rhys opened his eyes, seeing the taken aback faces his friends wore. The exhaustion that usually weighed on Rhys was well hidden by his personality, and seeing him with his walls completely down only proved that he desperately wanted his friends to give him some space. 

Fiona turned her head towards Sasha and Vaughn, her attention darting between them as she looked for a clue as to what to do next. When neither of the younger adults gave any indication of what she should do, she locked gazes with Rhys once more. “Alright… then you better tell us later, okay? We’re not worried for nothing and you know that.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I just really don’t want to think about this contract right now,” Rhys said, tapping his bionic fingers against his thigh, the dull pressure from the claws keeping him in reality. “So, let’s head over to the Purple Skag and call it a day.” Rhys’s demeanor changed then, the thought of burning liqueur down his throat and his mind being washed with fuzzy warmth making him much more excited than he had thought it would. Rhys wasn’t much of a drinker but when he he really needed it, it was his favorite thing. 

His three best friends gave a nod, a worried smile on each of their faces as they followed Rhys out of the hideout, guns holstered at their hips. “Don’t worry, it’s all on me, I got quite a bit of money for getting that prototype back in one piece.” Rhys chirped, the tense feeling in his back making itself apparent. A night off was something he needed, but he’d have to watch his intake. There was no saying when a spiteful bandit or person he wronged would wait for the opportunity to strike. 

The group of four walked to the Purple Skag, not minding the other citizens of Hollow Point with their annoyed glares when they travelled by them, talking loudly and laughing together. With how busy Rhys was, it wasn’t often that they got to spend time like this together, and talking through the ECHO could only give them so much time. Most of these outings only happened when Rhys got a break from work and he couldn’t even  _ remember _ the last time that that had happened. It felt like years had passed since his last break when it had only been 4 months. 

They reached the Purple Skag after stopping to visit Scooter and Janey for a brief moment, Rhys catching up with the friendly mechanics and sharing a few stories. He told them of his latest contract and told them about the time a bandit stole one of the Catch-A-Ride cars from him and crashed it moments after (that got a kick out of Scooter), and before long they finished their walk to the bar. 

As soon as they entered the Skag, August was behind the bar and trying his damndest to get Sasha to pay more attention to him. With quite a few glares from all four members and blatant rejections Sasha elicited, the tall blonde left the group alone, letting a different bartender retrieve their drinks. With the distraction of August gone and the four left alone at one of the booths in the bar, they were finally able to have the fun that they needed. 

Vaughn told them of the incidents he had wound himself into at some of the bandit heavy areas when on assignment for Atlas. Usually, his job was to stay indoors and work on the computers, keep Rhys up to date with information that they received and keep an eye on the people in the field (but mainly Rhys). There were times where he’d be sent to different Atlas locations, where parts of Gortys were being made, and he was to gather intel and report back to Headquarters. Routinely he was dispatched to these other facilities, but there were times where his chauffeur decided to take an alternate route, and that ended with the car being surrounded by bandits. Vaughn loved to share those stories though, as it let him brag and pride himself on the fact that  _ he _ had fought off bandits and even killed a couple in the process. He proudly told them that he kicked ass all on his own and was able to get away. 

Sasha and Fiona shared the explanation of the cons they did; most specifically, the one that led them to “conning” more than $100,000 from a bandit death race. They explained that they had ended up at the main race when they were trying to retrieve a weapon one of the bandits stole from Sasha. This thoroughly surprised Rhys, but he heard something about two girls infiltrating the death race… he didn’t expect it to be his two friends. They told of how halfway through the race and getting the money, Zer0 showed up, fighting Bossanova (the organizer of the race) because of a contract he received from Atlas. According to what Zer0 explained after, he was hired to eliminate Bossanova as the bandit leader was leaking information that he obtained from an Atlas member about the Gortys Project. 

Rhys thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling; not hearing about his friends lives while he was out doing contracts was something that ate at him when he was gone for weeks or months at a time. He always wondered what they were up to, so having this catch up session was something he craved. Having burning alcohol to sedate his muscles also helped with the tension and the ability to remember the newest contract, and made the night much more engaging. 

His friends rambled on and on about things he had missed - Vaughn almost losing his hand (he boasted how he’d have a bionic hand like Rhys shortly after), Fiona having to replace her hat about four different times, Sasha finding new guns only to lose them hours later - and each second passed let Rhys’s mind focus more on them. A weight was being lifted off his shoulders for the time being, and Rhys would be lying if he didn’t feel 100% grateful towards his three childhood friends.

Hours past, the four friends having stopped their drinking at some point to start sobering up before they wandered back to the hideout and ended up with a massive hangover the next day. Leaving the Purple Skag took a good 20 minutes, but once they had managed to stop laughing and stumbling enough, they were on their slow way home. They had just begun to make their way down the barren streets to the hideout when silence fell upon them, almost like all four remembered the contract information they were promised at the same time. None of them had the courage to speak of it, though, all opting to stay tight-lipped as the crisp night air rolled by. 

The crunch of gravel and dirt beneath their shoes only amplified the quiet pall that had taken hold of their voices, the happy times once again reduced to nothing more than a soon to be distant memory. Rhys dragged his fingers through his hair, the cool breeze hitting his face with a pleasant wave over his overheated body. The stress was returning with a fiery passion, his shoulders tensing at the memory that the contract he had received was to be started in the morning and officially begun in the afternoon. 

The travelling group made their way back to the hideout, the welcoming coldness of it being something everyone desired. They lingered in the “living room” of it, waiting to see who dared to ask Rhys once again for the contract details or to see who declared bedtime. Rhys watched as Sasha diverged to head to the kitchen, gathering bottles of water to pass around the four still buzzed adults. They took their time drinking the liquid, using it as an excuse to avoid the inevitable that was bound to come. 

Rhys stopped drinking and screwed the cap back on, inhaling deeply as he broke the silence first, “I was ordered to assassinate Handsome Jack.” 

Three sets of eyes landed on him simultaneously, the blank looks being given to him causing his heart to ache. They knew exactly what this assignment meant, and none of them could form a coherent sentence for a good five minutes. Rhys stayed where he was, not faltering in his stance as he awaited a response of any kind. 

The tension only proved to increase the longer they waited, Rhys noticing the way they gave each other nervous, shocked glances every few seconds. Sasha attempted to speak every now and then, her mouth gaping wider, hanging ajar before shutting to a standard open mouthed stare. Fiona didn’t even blink, her green eyes staring without breaking, the guilt only building in Rhys’s chest. There wasn’t much he could do to get out of the contract - not unless he got severely injured, and with the contract only a few hours away from starting, there was no escaping it. 

“So… you really could die?” 

Everyone turned their head to look at Vaughn, the only one able to break the awkward, tensed silence that surrounded them. Rhys slowly nodded, watching as Vaughn’s face contorted, his brows drawn together and a deep frown tugging at the corner of his lips. “He’s killed more Vault Hunters than I can count. He’s killed more skilled ones than me. I… would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared about this contract.” Rhys explained slowly, knowing full well that his friends were aware of how many Vault Hunters had been slain by Handsome Jack and his massive technological army. 

“This could be the last time we see you?” Vaughn inquired afterwards, his hand going to adjust the glasses that rested on his face. “Like… really the last time?”

“Yeah,” Rhys replied quietly, his tone taking on that of sorrow. “I can’t do anything about the contract. There’s no way out of this.”

“Well, find a way,” Sasha spoke up, her voice soft, “Why should you have to risk your life for the umpteenth time for that company?”

“They helped me when I needed it - they gave me this arm, this eye, this second chance to Vault Hunt. I owe them for it.” Rhys countered, his gaze resting on his bionic arm for a brief moment. The shimmering black metal that encased wires upon wires that connected to his shoulder, allowing him to move it as if it were his human arm, with the Atlas logo painted in white on the shoulder. It encased many of his abilities; the hidden button on his tricep, the clawed fingers, the strength booster that allowed him to carry four times his weight effortlessly, the massive cylindrical tube that held stockpiling electricity - it was this arm that seemed rather normal that led to him being able to Vault hunt still, and he owed Atlas everything for it. 

Fiona scoffed and folded her arms, “What the hell does that matter? They gave you an arm, sure, they helped you become more powerful than before, but if you die on this contract you won’t find a Vault.” 

Rhys went to speak but was cut off by Sasha, “Yeah; what’s the point of taking this dangerous contract if there’s basically a 99% chance of you  _ dying _ ? That arm won’t mean anything if you’re not alive!”

“There’s nothing I can do to get out of it. If I decline it they’re just going to send someone else up there and that only means failure for them, too,” Rhys explained, shifting on his feet, “So, do I risk my life or do I risk someone else’s? There’s not many Vault Hunters left and I don’t think many of them could assassinate Jack either. I’m not saying I’d do any better but I think I could do a little better than the rest of them. I’m powerful, I’ve trained for 15 years, I honed my techniques-”

“You just said that you were nervous about this! That means you’re not as confident as you’re trying to seem!” Fiona snapped, her voice stern and getting increasingly louder. “Don’t try to lie to convince us that you’re going to come back because we know how many Vault Hunters have died at the hands of Jack. Do you really think we’re that naive?” 

Rhys shook his head, the frown creeping up onto his lips displaying that this was getting harder for him to deny. “I am scared - how can someone not be? Even the most experienced Vault Hunters have to have something to fear, and it makes sense that that’s Jack! He’s got money like there’s no tomorrow, loyal followers, a huge base that is basically unreachable, and an army of war machines! I know exactly what I’m getting myself into, Fiona, don’t try to turn this around on me like I’m the idiot.”

“You haven’t found even one Vault yet, Rhys. Do you really want to put your whole life of training on the line for one contract?” Sasha pointed out, trying to be the calm factor in the situation but it was obvious she was struggling to keep her voice soft. 

“Of course not! I’d lose everything - I’d lose time with you three, with Zer0, with finding a Vault, with the other Vault Hunters, hell, even with the craziness of Pandora, but I can’t just not do this contract. I can’t let someone else take the fall for me. They gave me this contract, not someone else. I owe Atlas - big time. This is something I  _ have  _ to do.” Rhys asserted his point by straightening his back, the confidence towards the situation only raising slightly. He wasn’t cocky, but he needed to be confident if he was going to have even the slightest chance at simply getting  _ close _ to Jack. 

Vaughn’s quiet sniffling snapped the three out of their banter, heads snapping in the direction of the brunette man. He rubbed his tears with the back of his wrist in a frustrated fashion, the once sorrowful expression being replaced with one of somber irritation. “C’mon, bro, you can’t be serious about this.”

Rhys was taken aback by the crying, his brief flash of confidence fading like a flame without oxygen. “I have to, Vaughn, you know that.”

“But, you’re risking everything. Don’t they see if they lose you they’ll be out one amazing assassin? Zer0 isn’t going to work for them like you work for them, and none of the other Vault Hunters are assassins like that. You have to tell them that.” Vaughn offered a solution, but Rhys only sighed quietly in response.

Rhys shook his head and shrugged, “I already tried that option. They said that this would be my last contract if I succeed, I could fail and return where they’d have different contracts for me, or I could die.” Rhys explained to Vaughn, not able to look at his best friend any further. The painful twisting in his gut only proved even more how guilty he felt that he had to complete this contract, but there were no other ways out of this except to attempt it and see what happens.

“This is basically a death mission,” Fiona chimed in, her stern tone breaking into the familiar worried one they had all heard plenty while growing up. “Are you really sure you can handle it?”

Rhys mulled it over in his head, comparing his own powers to that of Handsome Jack’s army. On one side, he was a very skilled assassin with plenty of tricks up his sleeve; on the other side, Handsome Jack was not to be trifled with. He killed families without a care, gave people deathly illnesses, and commanded the biggest corporation. There was limitless power on Jack’s side - Rhys knew that. 

Rhys also was aware that Jack knew of him. He’d seen the bounty posters for his capture; a good $90 billion (mainly for his affiliation with Atlas and the numerous Hyperion workers he’d slaughtered) and that only meant that Jack was conscious of his skill. The only advantage he had on Jack was the fact that he hadn’t received a call from Jack over the ECHO Comm, which meant that Jack hadn’t been able to find him just yet. 

The brunette haired man took a deep breath and nodded, feeling more confident as he thought that he could actually pull this off and rid this galaxy of Handsome Jack. “I am sure. If I die, I die never finding a Vault. I can accept that.” Rhys spoke without faltering, the guilt still weighing in his chest but it lessened enough to where he could feel his confidence growing. If he treated this like just another high profiled mission, he felt he could pull it off. 

Vaughn, Fiona, and Sasha all exchanged glances once more, each one trying to digest the fact that Rhys was going to be put into such extreme danger. Slowly, all three of them accepted that fact, letting their shoulders go back to being relaxed. 

“Just make sure you come back.” Fiona started, letting her arms fall back to her sides as a gentle expression crossed over her face.

“There’s still a lot left you have to do.” Sasha pointed out, a reassuring smile spreading on her lips. 

“And I don’t think it’d be the same if you weren’t apart of this little friend group.” Vaughn finished, holding his fist out. Rhys didn’t hesitate to pound their fists together, a confident grin on his face now.

The four friends shared a brief hug before Rhys explained he needed sleep if he was going to get to the start of the contract in the nearing morning. Knowing that they’d sleep through it, Sasha and Fiona bid Rhys farewell then - not without relaying a few teasing jokes - and departed to their bedrooms. Rhys and Vaughn talked to one another for five more minutes, Rhys deciding to take the couch as he plopped down on it. He kicked his heavy combat boots off, revealing his stylish socks, then reached to unclip the weapon straps slung across his chest, gently placing those on the coffee table before laying down on the miraculously comfortable couch. He slid his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling of the hideout, his metal arm being a pleasant cool against his heated body.

The first thing he did was attempt to block out his thoughts, but the longer he rested there the more he noticed the gnawing feeling of nervousness creeping back into his chest. This wasn’t the same nervousness he felt earlier; the kind that was there because of the possibility of dying. This one was… different. Rhys could’ve sworn it was trying to tell him something. 

He swiped a hand down his face slowly, shutting his eyes as he tried to drift off to a restless sleep. Whatever that feeling was, it was trying to tell him something was going to happen tomorrow. What it was, Rhys had no idea. He’d face that hurdle when he saw it, but for now he needed shut eye.

Eventually, sleep overtook his mind, dreams of twinkling stars soothing his restless brain and body, allowing him a somewhat restful sleep.

 

* * *

 

_ “Welcome back to Hyperion - the place where success is the only option.” _

Rhys resisted the cringe that threatened to break his stuck up posture at the sound of the “happy” lady’s voice blasting through the intercoms. The uncomfortable clothes he wore kept his mind in a constant state of awareness of his posture and attitude, the tightness in the sleeves making it nearly impossible for him to bend his arms any faster than an old doll. There had been an elaborate plan set up by Atlas for this stage of the contract; Rhys was set out early that morning, before the ship back to Hyperion deployed, to retrieve a Hyperion grunt and steal his clothes. Thankful to his ECHO eye, Rhys was able to find one of the snobby men amidst one Hyperion base that had a similar body size. 

Grabbing the man only proved to be too easy. None of the loaders or protective guards noticed him taking the man out of the enclosure and pumping him full of poison, letting the Stalkers and Skags get his body once Rhys removed the suit he needed. With the suit came the limitation of the weapons he could bring, which thoroughly pissed off Rhys. Atlas promised that they found a way to send his weapons up there, but that they’d come up later and would be cutting it close when it came to the assassination. All Rhys did manage to bring was his sword and one of his pistols, but they were awkwardly hidden within the suit and coated with material that would stop them from being detected in a metal detector. His sword served to keep his back straight, as it was pressed directly against his spine. 

With Rhys finally grounded on Hyperion, he was able to realize just how large the floating company was. Technology was much more advanced here than he first thought; the pristine walls covered the many wires and pipes that ran behind them, the floors glossy and kept to a brand-new look. Many of the employees there seemed to know where they were going at all times, never once stopping to meander or gaze out the windows towards Pandora. From here, Pandora looked so much different. There was no sign of the craziness that Pandora normally had - it looked, dare he say, beautiful. Swirling clouds covering dull yellow patches, mountains of white standing out amongst a sea of blue, green foliage staining portions of the land, and what looked like cracks and tears dividing the many land masses on Pandora from one another. The most notable piece was where Eridium was being mined; the large purple glow standing out amongst the rest of the large planet. 

Rhys found himself stuck at one of the windows for more than a few minutes at one point, but when he remembered where he was, he moved quickly to get back to his assignment. He activated his ECHO, noticing that the few employees that had an ECHO transplant did the same at random intervals. With the short bursts of it activated, he was able to identify passages and ventilation, buttons and numerous wires those buttons connected to, the thousands of different people on Hyperion - it was plenty of information and technology all put into one facility. 

His job was simple: get in and get out as soon and as quickly as possible. He was to spend three days on Hyperion in total, seeing Handsome Jack’s patterns and the places he frequented, and to gather intel on the space stations technology for Atlas to use against them. All in all, it was plenty that needed to be done within the three short days he’d be there, but the third day would end with him assassinating Jack. All communications until then were to be cut off, fear of interception stopped Atlas from keeping tabs or Rhys updated on anything trivial. For these three days, Rhys would be completely alone on the one place that could truly end him. 

The first thing he did once he arrived at the space station was find out where exactly he’d be resting. The man he had stolen the suit from was the place he had to look for - luckily for him, that man had no family living with him and that gave him the opportunity to be alone in the quaint “apartments” that the people of Hyperion lived in. Rhys didn’t pay much attention to the way the room was set up; it was rather standard for a place this size, with a bed in one room, a dresser, one bathroom, one kitchen, and one living room that had a giant TV built into the wall. The plus was that Rhys now had a limitless supply of the same suit, meaning he could continue this facade of the person he impersonated. 

Rhys’s first day on Hyperion consisted mainly of wandering around as inconspicuously as he could. Thankful to his advanced ECHO, he was able to talk to numerous other staff about their jobs and remain under the radar of the all-to-present guards that wandered the halls. That led to him being able to scan some top notch technology in certain departments, his charm working effortlessly as he stored information of loaders and guns in the making. The only thing that hindered his ability to monitor a few types of technology was when people pointed out how his bionic arm had claws instead of normal fingers, and he made a mental note to wear a concealing glove over that hand for the next two days.

One way to put his first day was a mix between success and failure. Successful in the challenge of documenting the different technological pieces that were being made here, but failure in the fact that he didn’t catch a single glimpse of Jack (but he surely did hear his voice). While he figured out plenty about the facilities technology, he needed to focus on his target the second day or he’d be screwed in more ways than one. 

As he planned, the next day consisted of tailing Jack. This time, he was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the tyrant walking through the upper levels of Hyperion and managed to keep a close eye on him. From what he could tell, Jack only wandered the halls for a brief moment after consulting with different heads of departments in the military zone and the manufacturers. Rhys never once saw Jack grab anything to eat or drink, and it seemed that his demeanor was exactly as he thought it’d be; cocky, arrogant, full of himself, extremely sadistic, and the ability to leave a sea of people cowering in his wake. 

Rhys had only heard stories of Handsome Jack on Pandora. He’d heard them from raids on cities and villages, from his communication with certain places like Overlook, he’d been to Opportunity and saw the massive amount of artillery that resided there and the construction that was taking place, messages being bombarded over intercoms, and he’d heard more than enough spiteful comments towards Atlas from Jack. 

Most everyone feared Jack - and for good reason. That only drove Rhys even more to do better and succeed in this mission to rid the galaxy of someone like Handsome Jack. 

By the end of the second day, Rhys had stored a few patterns Jack had along with ways into the man’s office. As he expected, there were only two ways in instead of thirty; through the front entrance or through a trapdoor that rested just below his office. The latter would be the way to enter, since going straight through the massive amount of security would only lead to him being caught before he got within sights of his target. 

Unfortunately, his weapons didn’t arrive before he departed the small apartment he was supposed to call his on the final day. Instead, he spent the morning preparing for the day ahead. The shuttle going back to Pandora would be leaving at precisely 8 o’clock that night, meaning he’d need to get this assassination done with as quickly as he could. He was relieved to remove the suit for the final time, the constrictions it had being lifted as he slid into his normal assassination outfit; the black, monochrome outfit with a scarf wrapped around his neck that doubled as a hood. Form fitting body armor sewn into the jacket with one sleeve - his left - being more padded than the other with larger lightweight armor plates covering the top of the shoulder. His cargo pants were armored with the same light yet durable protection, flexible padding on his knees and elbows. The pants were tucked into a pair of large combat boots - steel-toed of course. The only things missing were the strap that clipped around his chest to hold his larger weapons and the weapon belt that carried his daggers and bombs.

He had noticed a certain lull in the entire atmosphere of Hyperion around 11:25 in the morning each day; not many people wandering the halls and guards were sparse. It was the perfect time to start moving towards the entrance he’d be using for Jack’s office. 

As he left the apartment, he slid the hood onto his head, his ECHO activating as it began it’s skilled routine of checking for surrounding guards or citizens, then mapping out different directions he could take to get to his destination. Arrows pointed mainly to vents, but Rhys decided to ride out the walk in the hallways, avoiding security cameras by giving them zaps of electricity from his bionic arm. 

He stayed in the halls until he couldn’t anymore, waiting until he came across the larger center plazas before he changed course and went to the nearest vent. Judging by the fact that no alarms were blaring and that guards weren’t surrounding him, he figured that he was under the radar and hadn’t been caught - yet. His growing confidence was there, but he was being sensible; Hyperion wasn’t easy to just break into and kill their leader, otherwise someone else would’ve done it already. 

Climbing through the vents proved to be difficult. Making noise wasn’t an option, but climbing down 100 different vents to get to the bottom floor where the entrance to the trapdoor was wasn’t exactly easy when trying to avoid loud noises. The vents were large and spacious but hard to maneuver in, with vertical drops happening every so often to get him lower into the Hyperion base. His claws served a good purpose to guide him down the steep shafts without making too much noise, and he was careful not to rip open any of the vents, as he was sure that any damage done to an internal structure would lead to alarms being sounded.

By the time he managed to finish his slow descent into the bottom floors, it was around 3. His time had been wasted on climbing down, and it’d surely eat into the time he had to wait for Jack to be in a position he could strike in. He sighed irritably and ran an annoyed hand through his hair once he had dropped into a small room, wiping the sweat from his brow as his now burning muscles thanked him for the break in movement.

Rhys took a moment to catch his breath, his eyes scanning the nearby items. It appeared he ended up in a janitor's closet, but no sign of life was near the room. Most items were thoroughly used - mops, brushes, wipes - but plenty new ones rested along the walls. The box he had landed gently on from the vent on the ceiling contained only cleaning supplies, and a copious amount of replacement janitorial uniforms were packed neatly into the box.

He slid off the box and paid careful attention to the warnings his ECHO told him of; lasers, cameras, patrolling guards, and people in cells. The entrance to the trapdoor was through the jail that Hyperion had, which meant he’d need to take out guards to get where he needed to be. Slowly, cautiously, he made his way out of the janitor’s closet and began to make his way towards the jail. The closet wasn’t very far from the jail - he’s had way too many lucky hits to successfully complete this assassination at this point - and he disabled the cameras momentarily as he fast walked into the jail. Not many cameras remained and only two guards were actually in the jail. Both asked why he was there, but Rhys only smiled in response. He flicked a setting on his bionic arm, the small opening on his palm extending a stun baton that he had grown very fond of over the years, the crackling blue electricity echoing around the jail. The two guards rushed at him to apprehend him, and with a swift sideways movement of his arm, both guards were being thrown into the opposing wall with the force of the stun baton, knocked unconscious. 

The citizens of Hyperion trapped in the cells begged to be rescued as soon as the stun baton was folded back into his arm, but Rhys ignored their pleas. He wasn’t here to be their knight in shining armor; the trapdoor and planning for his ascension up the ladder needed to be his top priority. His ECHO whirred quietly in his eye as it began to open more of its advanced mechanisms. Using the advancements wore him down when used too much, so he tried his hardest to get all the information he needed in short bursts. The ECHO went past the trapdoor above him, exposing where Jack was currently - sitting in his chair, awake - along with the numerous weapons that were hiding in the walls. 

That was the only glimpse he got of the room before his ECHO turned itself off, the stench only just then reaching his nostrils. Rotting limbs were heaped into a grotesque pile, the blood splatters coating the ground so dry that he was sure if anyone attempted to clean it it wouldn’t come up, and the smell was  _ suffocating _ . Rhys turned his attention back to the deathtrap above him, the roaring sawblades and spinning rolls of spikes covered in blood made him cringe slightly - one wrong move and he’d end up getting torn apart by machines. 

He surveyed the room around him, noticing the switch to his right. He was quickly able to discover that it stopped the rollers and sawblades in the deathtrap, but with that came the stopping of all the noise it emitted. One thing he wasn’t sure of was if the machines were loud enough to be heard in Handsome Jack’s office, but he figured that the CEO wouldn’t make it apparent the trapdoor existed. He waited a couple minutes, seeing if anyone came into the jail to investigate why the machines briefly stopped working, but he was pleased to find that no one appeared to ruin his only way in. 

The next step: waiting. Waiting until he was sure that he could sneak in through the trapdoor as quietly and as swiftly as possible without detection so he could end the reign of terror that is Handsome Jack. He had left the jail briefly to retrieve a broom, planning on using it to keep the traps unactivated while he ascended the ladder that was built into the walls. Every now and then he’d wander back over to the guards to make sure they’d stay asleep, and as far as he could tell, they weren’t waking up for another day or so. 

Rhys paced around the foul stenched area, his senses growing accustomed to it rather quickly (honestly, after so many years on Pandora, it was hard to not get used to such putrid smells). He wondered what exactly he’d need to do to accomplish his task, but at the same time, that gnawing feeling was once again returning. He stopped in his tracks and chewed his bottom lip, flexing his fingers every now and then as he waited for his opportunity to pass by. 

Occasionally, to be sure, he’d reactivate his ECHO for a few seconds and check to see where his target was, but he noticed that the CEO didn’t move around as much as he had hoped. For the most part, it seemed like Jack stayed in one position for long periods of time, only moving every now and then to reach for coffee or the phone. It was irritating, to say in the least. This waiting game was one he experienced every contract, but that was on home ground. This wasn’t a place he could hang around in for longer than he wanted to, and the more he realized that Jack wasn’t going to leave his office that day, the more he was forced to entertain the thought of simply going for it. 

His arm flashed a soft yellow briefly before displaying the time on his palm; 7:15. He’d been waiting far too long as it was and if he missed this shuttle back to Pandora, he might as well consider himself dead. Checking one last time up into the office, he made a snap decision to go for it instead of simply heading to the shuttle and telling Atlas that there wasn’t an opportunity. He’d rather go out trying to take Jack down than not. 

Rhys set up the broom to keep the handle suspended, the slow stopping of the death machines sounding above. Checking that the broom would withstand holding the lever, he began to climb up the ladder to the trapdoor. He made sure to move quickly but silently, taking each precautionary measure that he could. His hands gripped the blood stained ladder tightly, though he worked hard to keep his breathing in check. The last thing he needed was a mistake based on his own fear. He had to be confident in his moves and his abilities, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t.

As he approached the trapdoor, he took a final deep breath, his bionic arm bending at the elbow as he pushed up on the trapdoor with his forearm. Thankfully, it opened softly, whirring quietly in its gears. It peeled backwards, allowing entrance into the office. Rhys planted both palms into either side of the trapdoor, lifting himself up swiftly. His feet made no sound as he landed beside it, the trapdoor sliding back into place with only a faint  _ click _ . 

He stayed in a crouched position, eyes connecting with the back of the golden chair that was situated behind a large desk. It faced Elpis, the glowing moon with angry red scars running down its side being the most prominent feature in the whole office. Towering statues of Jack’s bust stood behind him, but he did his best to not dwell on the small details of the office. Instead, light on his feet, he straightened and climbed the stairs leading to the desk, his body feeling more relaxed than he had ever been. He’d be the one to kill Jack - he’d be a goddamned  _ hero _ to the people of Pandora. Once again, they could live in peace; as peaceful as it could get on a planet like Pandora. 

Rhys’s heart was racing, his feet taking him to just beside the desk, eyes never leaving the back of Jack’s head - the dark brunette locks with a silver streak styled perfectly on his head; the image of the billboards and cutouts he’d seen of Jack around Opportunity flooding his mind. He extended the claw on his bionic arm, the curved piece of metal pressing gently into his thigh. The CEO didn’t seem to notice him yet, and a moment later, he was plunging his signature weapon into the unsuspecting neck. He expected the familiar sight of a blood spray forward from the stab, but when he saw none, his confusion took over the moment of triumph. How… was he not bleeding?

Rhys removed the blade as fast as he could, whipping the chair around to see what exactly he had just attacked, and he felt his heart drop. Sitting in the chair was merely a dummy, crudely put together with white cotton and a distorted face. There was the soft clicking and buzzing from a mechanical skeleton that kept the dummy moving and sitting up straight, angry bursts of electricity sputtering out from the cut, and Rhys was frozen into place. Not only had he wasted time waiting for a  _ dummy _ to move, he hadn’t killed Handsome Jack, and he was in a very vulnerable position. 

_ Behind. _

His ECHO eyes’ sudden alarm sent him into an almost blind panic, but just as he went to turn and see who had snuck up on him, there was a cold metal being pressed into his skull. A deep throated laugh came shortly after.

“Did you  _ really  _ think it’d be  _ that _ easy to kill me, kiddo?” 

Rhys’s whole body ran cold, the color draining from his cheeks as the all-too-familiar voice sounded behind him, the smirk and arrogance in his voice obvious. There was nothing Rhys could do as the gun was pressed harder into his skull, the click and cock of the gun sending a shiver down his spine. The heat of a body hovering just behind his back came into his sense, breath fanning over his ear as the man’s voice sounded, seeming much more amplified and threatening with the proximity.

“Your move, cupcake.” 


	2. Episode 2: Contract Killer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that I forgot to add in the last part: most information about BL1 is through research as I haven't played the first game yet (was focusing more on getting to know Jack's story through BL2 and TPS), so some information may be wrong or altered to match what I need for the story.

_ “Your move, cupcake.” _

Hot breath stayed fanning over his ear, the scent of fading mint reaching his nostrils as his eyes remained trained on the fake dummy that he had stabbed. It’s sputtering electricity and halfhearted attempts to continue the routine it was programmed to do only adding to Rhys’s anger. He had fallen for a dummy - a mere  _ dummy _ . Was he that naive that he thought Handsome Jack didn’t move from his spot for hours at a time? Was he that idiotic that he thought it would be this easy to even approach the desk and jam a knife into the unsuspecting neck without being caught? Had his training truly taught him  _ nothing _ ?

“Not even going to try to get out of this? C’mon, live a little! Well, live while you can is what I should say,” Jack chortled behind him, the tip of the gun being shoved into the tender spot just below his occipital bone, his body wincing from the pressure. “Turn around with your hands up, kiddo.”

He could feel the tension in his muscles as he slowly turned, every instinct in his body protesting to the movement.. His mind screamed at him to do something to get Jack to back off and escape, but at this point, he knew all hope was lost. There was no escaping this and he’d for sure be dead when Jack got bored of keeping him around. He lifted his arms up to a 90 degree angle, his hands hanging mid air by his head, knees pressed into the cool metal floor, his gaze raising to meet Jack’s without fear. What else was there to be afraid of when he was staring down the barrel of a gun?

“I can tell by that look in your eyes that you know you’re going to die. Good!” Jack chimed, the smirk on his lips only defined more by the mask that he adorned, his blue-green gaze boring into Rhys, “I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, just the guy who puts the bullet into your brain. Or, if I’m feeling into it, maybe I’ll just strangle the shit out of you. But, I have a few questions for you, and you’re going to answer them. Let’s start with something simple that I know you can’t lie about: company you work for?”

Rhys chewed the inside of his cheek hard, the metallic taste ghosting over his tongue. He had two options: talk to Jack and hope that in the 99.9% of certain death he received the .1% for life, or end it now by not being cooperative with the man. Slowly, after mulling over each option thoroughly, he spoke, “...Atlas.” 

“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere. See, if you were just another assassin sent here to kill me, I would’ve shot you,  _ but _ I know what you have,” Jack’s voice was smooth, his words loosely enunciated as he paced around Rhys, sneakers creating soft scuffing noises against the metal. “You hold plenty of information, and I’d be an idiot if I didn’t commend what a good job you did sneaking all the way up here. So, bravo, kiddo!” Jack clapped his hands, the most sarcastic sound filling the air. “Most assassins they send after me aren’t this skilled - or even get this far. Too bad I was aware of where you were from the moment you stepped foot on Helios, or you might’ve finished the job.”

Rhys could feel the bubbling anger in his gut, his breaths shortening to small bursts. The older brunette’s attitude of superiority was aggravating to Rhys, the thoughts of the things Jack had done surging through his mind. Moonshots, mutations, cities destroyed, innocent people killed - if only he had been more conscious of what he was doing before he so blindly came up to the office, perhaps he would’ve had the upperhand. 

“Now, let me ask another question, kiddo. Keep up this cooperative streak and maybe I’ll let you live,” Jack laughed instantly afterwards, the gun briefly pointed away from him, “Ah, who am I kidding? You’re gonna die either way and it’s going to be  _ fantastic _ . Where’s the Atlas base located now? After I demolished New Haven I didn’t expect Atlas to keep going, but clearly they found a way amidst the rubble and ash and multitude of dead bodies all over the place. Was that your doing?”

Rhys tsked at the questions, his hands clenching into fists. “I’m not answering th-”

“Let me stop you right there,” Jack crouched down, the gun now pressed hard into Rhys’s side, the brunettes body flinching away from the cool metal. “If you finish that sentence, I’m gonna have to shoot you. I have no reason to keep around a disgusting Vault Hunter if he won’t even give me the answers I seek. Let me try that again: Where’s the Atlas base located, and were you the one to help raise them back up?”

The brunettes brown-gold gaze landed on the gun jammed into his side, the pressure of hard metal just below his ribcage making him rigid.  _ If I could push the button on my arm… _ Rhys swallowed thickly, only moving his flesh arm a tad more in front of him. “Somewhere in the desert. It’s hidden pretty well. I can’t give you the exact location unless I’m there, and I wouldn’t be able to point it out on a map,” Rhys answered tentatively, choosing his words carefully, “And I’m partially responsible for helping Atlas back onto their feet.” 

Jack hummed in dissatisfaction, his lip curling in disgust, though his questions didn’t stop, “Why are you working for them? Seems like a low job for a Vault Hunter. Assassins yes, but a Vault Hunter? Thought you scum had goals or some weird shit like that.”

“Yes, we do, but I owe Atlas. They gave me this arm, I repay them by taking contracts. You know, eliminating their foes.” Rhys explained, ignoring the foul names that Jack used to call the Vault Hunter’s. 

Jack stood back up with that answer, his arms crossed and gun resting in the nook of his elbow. He stared down at Rhys, almost as if he were figuring him out without asking further questions, his detesting gaze locked tightly with that of Rhys’s. “So, you, a Vault Hunter, decide to work for Atlas because they did something for you,” Jack reiterated, receiving a nod from the kneeled brunette. Jack smirked, his hands going to rest on his knees as he leaned down, his face dangerously close to Rhys’s own. “If it’s that simple, then you owe me big time. I won’t kill you if you become my personal assassin.” 

Rhys blinked in bewilderment, his breath leaving him instantly, unable to regain it for a good thirty seconds. His mind went completely blank, the fear that had taken hold of his body disappearing with it. Thinking was not something that he was able to accomplish, his mouth hanging open at the notion of becoming Handsome Jack’s assassin. 

“I… thought you hated Vault Hunters?” Rhys managed to breath out, his previous glare replaced with one of severe confusion.

“Oh, I do. I hate them a whole lot. Think you’re all a bunch of filthy, baby eating bandits with ‘special’ powers you think you all have, and that those powers really set you above everyone else,” Jack replied with ease, tapping the gun against his arm, “However, after all the bandits that have been sent here to kill me, you’re the only one to make it this far. Normally they’re caught within the first 20 minutes of them being here, but you - you managed to stay hidden for three days up until this moment.” 

Rhys watched as Jack turned, his body moving only a few feet away from Rhys. As soon as Jack was facing away from him, he went to press the button on his tricep, freedom just a couple inches in front of his fingers. Yet he wasn’t quick enough, as a moment later two shots were fired, causing Rhys to fall backwards from his kneeled position, his breath forced out of his lungs and his ears ringing. “Shit!” He bit out, the two bullets connecting directly with his bionic arm. It hissed in failure, clawed fingers sporadically twitching, blue sparks spitting out of the entrance “wounds.” 

“I’m trying to be nice here, cupcake. I would’ve thought you were smart enough to know that trying to activate that little escape method you got on your arm would surely lead to shots being fired,” Jack’s voice dropped two octaves, his body once again standing directly in front of Rhys’s, the threat of death once again digging its claws into Rhys’s heart. The ringing in his ears only subsided enough to where he could understand the man standing face to face with him. “You going to try something again or do I need to shoot you now and dissect your cybernetics against your will? Oh, and watch your damn language.” 

Rhys’s gaze darted between the gun and his twitching arm, once again chewing the inside of his cheek. Slowly, he shook his head, Jack’s voice returning to its normal register in an instant. “As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me with your little escape attempt; you made it this far while others have failed right out the gate. Someone like you, Vault Hunter or not, with stealth and the ability to murder higher ups is something that I could very well use. You’re a person who can move in and out of places run by the Crimson Lancers, you can slaughter groups of bandits single-handedly, and you clearly have enough skills to enter my office without anyone noticing,” Jack was sweetening the pot, letting “compliments” flow to get on Rhys’s good side, to trick him into listening to what Jack wanted. 

“I let you live, you carry out contracts for me. Or, as I like to put it, you become my bitch,” Jack continued, eyes never breaking contact with Rhys’s, “And if you disobey me, you die. Or your friends, the people you know, die - whichever comes first. How does that sound, Vault Hunter?” 

Rhys tilted his head down, the only two options weighing heavily on his mind. He either dies, or he agrees and works with the one person who made Pandora such an awful place to live. Pandora had always been terrible, but at least before Jack rose to power, it was bearable. “I… don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Rhys asked hesitantly, knowing full well that his journey wasn’t supposed to end here. 

“Nope - good thing you’re quick to catch on.”

Rhys inhaled deeply, his eyes shutting momentarily. “Fine. Since I don’t have much of a choice. I can’t just leave Atlas, though.”

“Oh, I’m not saying you have to. I’m saying you’re going to work for both Hyperion and Atlas at the same time. Won’t that be fun?” Jack smirked, sliding his gun into the holster strapped to his thigh. He gestured up with his hand, Rhys taking that as a sign to stand, though his movements remained cautious. Jack could easily be lying to him, but there was even the slightest hope that he’d make it out alive. 

Rhys didn’t answer Jack’s question, instead taking a brief moment to examine the damage done to his bionic arm. It had ceased its sporadic spazzing and angry sparking and was now stuck in a bent position, the warped metal on his tricep digging into his side. If this was real, this deal with Jack, he’d need to get home and fix this. 

Jack whistled, snapping Rhys out of his attentive poking and prodding at a few of the exposed wires. “Aww, perfect, you respond to a whistle like a dog!” Jack sniggered, causing Rhys’s lip to curl in disgust, “Anyway, I should probably tell you that all that information you got of my loaders and guns? Yeah, gonna need you to delete that from your cybernetics.”

“Can’t necessarily delete them unless I’m hooked up to my drive back at Atlas.” Rhys replied curtly, which earned him plenty of disappointed tsks. 

“See, I don’t like that answer. You’re not leaving until you delete all that information you got in your stupid little head,” Jack moved towards Rhys once again, grabbing hold of his upper arm tightly. He dragged the brunette towards his computer, pressing an intercom button before speaking loudly, “Need a new cybernetic drive with the Hyperion networking already programmed into it - bring it up to my office as fast as your little legs can bring you.”

Rhys grimaced at the man’s hand clamped down on his left arm, resisting the urge to struggle away from him. “I can’t use a Hyperion drive; I’m an Atlas worker, I-”

“This way I’ll be able to track you and communicate with you. And, if you try to escape, I’ll know exactly where you are to kill you.” Jack cut the younger man off, instantly silencing what Rhys was going to say. 

_ He’s going to kill me eventually. What’s the point of even trying to reason with him?  _ Rhys averted his eyes as a breathless Hyperion grunt rushed into the office, his words tripping over themselves as he held out the Hyperion drive. Jack took the drive and dismissed the worker a moment later, the man quick to obey what Jack ordered without hesitation. “Shove this into your port. I’ll delete the files and hook you up to the network.” Jack directed, the drives gears clicking and whirring as the USB stick extended. Rhys looked at the small device, tentatively taking the silver and gold drive. “Chop, chop, pumpkin, I don’t have all day.” 

Rhys sighed through his nose, knowing full well that he would receive an earful when he returned to Atlas completely empty handed. Following Jack’s commands, he shoved the drive into his cybernetic port, information flooding into his head of the Hyperion network instantly, ECHO eye springing to life as it loaded the massive amount of data. He heard Jack say something, but with the onslaught of databases and names being thrown at him, he couldn’t focus. Distant typing reached his ears, not feeling a thing as the data of Hyperion loaders and guns were deleted from his cybernetics. 

“Huh,” Jack hummed, Rhys’s ECHO shutting off after it received the data and stored it, bringing his attention back to the psychopath standing before him. “Looks like when you’re connected to the Hyperion network your ECHO is blue. Interesting. Might want to keep that one in mind, kiddo.” 

Rhys nodded once, again not making eye contact with Jack. “Alright. Well, I, um-”

“Funs over, pumpkin, get the hell out of my office before I throw your filthy bandit ass out of it.” Jack cut him off, Rhys not wasting a moment to get out of the awkward situation. He turned and briskly moved out of the office, his eyes only glancing over the large statues of Jack’s bust he had towering near the entrance. 

The brunette's heart was racing, his jaw clenched tight and his mind going a million miles an hour. He had just confronted Handsome Jack face to face and… walked away from him.

That thought stayed in his mind as he followed his ECHO’s instructions to the docking bay where shuttles to Pandora were being boarded. Everything seemed far too surreal now. He had come here to collect information on Hyperion and eliminate Handsome Jack, but instead he had become allied with him. Now, he wasn’t just an assassin for Atlas, but an assassin for Jack.

Rhys kept his bionic arm hidden in his jacket, noticing the stares and whispers he received from the citizens of Hyperion. Most of what they whispered about was nothing more than, “Why is he wearing that?” and at the moment, Rhys couldn’t think straight or worry about what the people around him thought. Today had been strange, and he wanted nothing more than to get back home to Hollow Point and work on his arm. 

The multitude of clicking heels against the pristine floors of Hyperion let him drown himself in his thoughts. He attempted to catch a glimpse of Pandora one last time from the large space station, but he was pushed too far from the windows to get a good look, and he was far too exhausted by the day's events to bother shoving his way through the large crowd. Most of the civilians climbing into the shuttle with him all wore identical suits - stripes down the jacket and dress pants, red tie, and a white shirt underneath the dark clothing. It was like being trapped in a sea of the same thing, and it made Rhys wish he were back on Pandora even more. At least each bandit seemed different from one another instead of programmed to run like just another cog. 

Flashing his return ticket to the attendant, he took a seat towards the back of the shuttle, the comfortable seats allowing him to relax and slump slightly. If things had gone differently, he’d be tensed and ready to fight his way back down to Pandora, but with the latest development of him being forced to work with Jack, he was able to let his guard down slightly. He rested his forehead in his left hand, rubbing gentle circles into his temples, the few thoughts that filtered in and out of his head leaving him to shut his eyes. 

He inhaled slowly through his nose, the distant noise of “Taking off,” sounding throughout the cabin. Quiet whispers between the other passengers ensued directly after the jolt from the shuttle starting up subsided, the large spacecraft beginning its descent to Pandora. Rhys allowed himself to drift in and out of consciousness throughout the ride, only waking up when a spark from his bionic arm gave him a shock. Occasionally, he’d reexamine the damage only to hear questioning whispers to his left, which forced him to cover the broken arm for the time being. 

Eventually, sleep wasn’t much of an option in the spacecraft. The amount of nervous whispering the other Hyperion grunts continuously droned on about - talking about the dangers of Pandora and why they shouldn’t be sent down there - made it nearly impossible for him to focus on sleeping. Instead, he directed his attention back to the planet that he had grown up on, the vastness of it seeming ethereal and far away. Almost as if danger didn’t lurk and prowl there all day and night. 

His mind grew progressively more blank as he was enveloped by Pandora’s outer beauty, and it made the trip back to it seem much shorter than it actually was. As soon as it was landed and the people had filed out, he was moving briskly to escape the base he was in. Once again, loaders and guards didn’t seem to notice him, his stealthy feet bringing him a mile away from the towering base without any quarrels. 

He paused for a moment when he attempted to call Atlas and Vaughn, his ECHO failing to retrieve the data. Rhys was thoroughly lost as to what had happened to his information, before it clicked that he was still using the Hyperion network that Jack had only just programmed into his cybernetics. Deciding to search through the Hyperion network at a later time, he took a minute to figure out how exactly to swap between the two networks in his cybernetics, only figuring out after many different attempts that it was as simple as thinking “Atlas network.” With a disgruntled sigh, he finally turned his location back on, the attempt of a call from Vaughn failing due to the damaged arm.

Instead, he found the nearest Catch-A-Ride and journeyed back to Atlas himself, the cool night air of Pandora being a pleasant change from the filtered air of Hyperion. 

Rhys took his time returning to Atlas. While he knew that he’d have time to himself once he made it back to Hollow Point, he was aware that he’d be bombarded with questions and hours long “meetings” before he was permitted to leave and tend to his arm. So, while he had the chance and the ability to not be bothered by the company, he drove slow and enjoyed the quiet night. 

By the time he did arrive at Atlas - after he stopped numerous times to simply look up at the sky and star-gaze, his eyes avoiding the floating company orbiting Elpis - morning was breaking on the horizon, and he didn’t have even a second to climb out of the car before he was bombarded by numerous Atlas employees. The questions they threw at him came far too fast, and his mouth hung open in confusion, emitting only a continuous, “Uhh,” noise. 

Using his legs to push the people out of his way as he climbed out of the car, he spoke above the rapid inquiries of his mission, “Where’s Vaughn? As much as I’d love to tell you all about my  _ amazing _ adventure up on Helios, I’m really not in the mood.” Rhys growled out what he said, not meaning to sound so angry and sarcastic but with the events of the day and the crowding of the employees, he wanted nothing more than to see the CEO, grab Vaughn, and go the hell home. 

Instead of answering Rhys, the employees took a tentative step backwards, giving Rhys enough room to head to the entrance of Atlas. He didn’t bother relishing in the ventilated air that washed over him upon entering, his mind set on heading straight to the CEO’s office. Multiple employees he passed by questioned how his mission was, commented that he was still alive, or asked what happened to his bionic arm. He met those questions with silence, brisk walk bringing him to the CEO’s office in five minutes. 

Without knocking, he strode into the room and went straight to the seats located just in front of Marodellus’s desk, plopping down in the chair as he groaned. “Before I hear the same damn questions from you, let me start by saying this: I got no information on Hyperion loaders, guns, or any form of manufacturing, I had no success in assassinating Handsome Jack, and Jack did this to my arm. Lucky for me, that was  _ all  _ he did.”

The silver haired CEO flinched when the door was suddenly ripped open, the surprise of Rhys returning showing in his eyes. His mouth hung open when he was cut off from asking what was ready to spill out of his lips, only managing to clear his throat after Rhys finished explaining. “You got nothing? You spent three days up there, Rhys. Didn’t you have time to explore the facility?”

“No, I didn’t.” Rhys lied easily, sitting with his elbows pressed sharply into his knees, the spitting electricity from his arm at the sudden pressure causing Marodellus to look towards it. Lying about what had happened was something he felt he had to do. If he told Atlas that Jack had forced him to work for Hyperion, there was a guarantee he’d either be executed on the spot or kicked out - both of which would lead to terrible repercussions. “Let me guess what you’re thinking: ‘How did you make it out alive?’ Well, it seems I got extremely lucky. When I attempted to assassinate him - it was just a dummy that I actually stabbed - I was able to activate my Shock Pulse and escape and avoid getting shot anymore. Unfortunately, that jackass was able to put a shield up so he didn’t get the full affect of it. He shot me as I escaped, but only managed to get my arm.” 

Marodellus nodded periodically, attentively listening to the information that Rhys relayed. “You escaped with your life, and for that you should be proud. Not many Vault Hunters or assassins in general can confidently and truthfully say they escaped a face to face encounter with Handsome Jack.” 

“I’m aware of that, and you can bet that I’m not trying that again. Going up there a second time would be a death wish and I don’t plan on fulfilling it.” Rhys replied curtly, the irritation from the other employees making his attitude worse. Marodellus seemed to understand however, and he didn’t chastise him for being disrespectful. 

“I wasn’t planning on sending you on another contract up to Helios. The risk for this one was great in and of itself, but now that you’re back, the contracts will resume in a week,” Marodellus explained, leaning back in his seat, his silver hair being pushed back behind his ear with a swift movement of his hand. “You definitely earned yourself a break, Rhys, even without collecting intel of Hyperion’s operations. Are you sure there is nothing you saw, or programmed into your ECHO?”

Rhys sighed gently and shook his head, tapping his fingers against his knee as he once again shifted his position, leg crossed over the other. “I could probably describe things but my ECHO was being finicky, so there weren’t any pictures or scans I could save.” Rhys explained, the yellow gaze of the CEO darting to his arm once more. “And I’ll need the break anyway to fix this arm. Definitely not going to be a days work - its been locked in this position since it happened and I know that means it’ll be a pain to get it working again.” 

Marodellus hummed in response, “As much as I’d love to continue to question you and get as much information as I can out of you, I can tell that you’re extremely tired. Vaughn should be around here somewhere; find him and take your leave. When that arm is fixed or if you find time in the next few days, come in and relay all the information you can of the base.” 

Rhys grunted in reply, not wasting another moment in the CEO’s luxurious office as he stood and made his way out. Most of the time that he spent with the CEO was when contracts were given and the details were relayed to him, but other than that, Rhys wasn’t exactly sure he particularly liked Marodellus. He was mysterious, to say in the least. 

Almost everything the CEO did was off the radar, and Rhys had noticed how often the man seemed to be holed up in his office. Paperwork rarely cluttered the metal desk, only the usual knick-knacks of prototype weapons that failed and pictures of his children, and he seemed constantly tired in a place that didn’t require much effort except to come here and make sure things were being manufactured and produced correctly. Well, besides all the trivial things that came along with being the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the galaxy.

Even so, Rhys got the feeling that there was more to Marodellus than the man let on. But, with the ties Rhys had to Atlas, he had no room to ask questions. 

“Rhys! Thank god you’re back!” The sudden outburst and the feeling of arms wrapped around his midsection made his heart jump into his throat, instant reaction being to attempt to grab the person around him and throw him off. With his bionic arm locked in place, he only managed to flinch it in an upward position, his mind forcing himself to relax when he realized that it was just Vaughn. “That hold they had on your network when you were gone was the most annoying thing to look at - I kept wanting to call you and make sure you were alright.”

Rhys chuckled and used his left arm to hug Vaughn, patting the smaller man’s back gently, “I figured you’d be worrying the whole time I was up there. Not gonna lie, it sucked not being able to call you and get an update or just talk when I was able to have down time.”

Vaughn took a step back, a grin plastered on his face. He went to speak but his eyes caught glimpse of the busted metal on Rhys’s arm, his hands going to grab the bionic arm. “Whoa! How’d you get that? This thing is virtually indestructible.”

“Well, when you’re face to face with Handsome Jack it’s not so indestructible,” Rhys started, the look of incredulous shock creeping onto his best friends face. He couldn’t help the triumphant grin that spread across his lips, “Oh, by the way, I saw Handsome Jack.”

“Clearly! You went to Helios, you were on Hyperion for three days, you  _ saw _ that psychopath - did you almost get him? Is that how your arm got shot?” Vaughn inquired, interest mixed with worry dancing in his eyes.

Rhys only nodded once, ushering his friend out of the Atlas building and back to the car, hopping inside. “Let me tell you what happened on our way back to Hollow Point - I need to get home already.”

The ride home consisted of mainly Rhys talking and Vaughn asking occasional questions. He kept his description of the encounter with Jack vague, not wanting to go into extreme detail about it as he knew that he would end up spilling what actually happened. Instead, he elaborated on the mass technology that was on Hyperion, the amount of people, and most certainly the view of Pandora. Relaying this information and keeping his friend occupied with the little details about the pristine floors and walls, about the guns and the loaders and the guards - he was able to forget momentarily the deal he had struck with Jack. 

That same information was retold by Vaughn when they returned to the hideout in Hollow Point, Rhys able to escape the onslaught of the same questions from Fiona and Sasha with Vaughn’s promise to explain anything he could to the two women. Rhys was thankful towards the brunette for giving him the opportunity to go retire to his bedroom, allowing himself some much needed rest as he kept his thoughts away from the overbearing thought that he was Handsome Jack’s assassin.

* * *

 

The next three days after Rhys’s return consisted of lounging about the hideout fixing his arm or walking around Hollow Point with his three friends. Again thankful to Vaughn, he only had to answer new questions that he received from either girl, happy to be able to say that he was off work for at least a week (or more if his arm wasn’t fixed). After he had woken up that first day back, he had gone straight to work on his arm.   
Removing the bullet from his arm took time; each one was angled differently and penetrated at an odd angle, leaving the pancake shaped metal to be lodged directly into circuit boards that proved difficult to remove. He spent hours opening and closing different latches on his arm, exposing undamaged wires and the more destroyed parts, marking in white pen where he needed to work and what exactly he would need to fix the injured arm. 

After dislodging the bullets - hours wasted - he began to examine the “injuries” afflicted on his bionic arm. Both entry points for the bullets left the metal warped and exposed, like an explosion, the metal peeled back and scraping into the rest of the arm. That left him able to see the amount of wires that had been torn from their correct places, the hanging bits looking limp in the holes that were created. The circuit boards had ceased their sparking, finally, and that displayed the black marks that were burned onto them upon impact. The proximity in which the weapon was fired was the reason for this much damage, and he sighed irritably the more he noticed how much he’d have to repair.

The cylindrical tube of electricity lit up the damaged areas, Rhys noticing how close the bullets came to knicking the tube that would most certainly end with death. His Shock Pulse was charged within his bionic arm, the electricity stockpiling the longer he went without using it, and if he had been able to activate it when he was so close to Handsome Jack, the man would’ve surely been fried. The tube held the power for his Shock Pulse but it also gave electricity to his stun baton when he ejected it from his palm, which was why the stun baton was immensely strong. 

Rhys pressed his elbow into the table that he deemed his working station, grabbing a screwdriver as he began to remove bolts to expose the mass amount of wiring. He pulled off the shield that was connected to the top of his bionic forearm, setting it aside as he yanked on the internal hinges that kept the protective outer layer in place. Exposing the internal structure of his arm always looked strange to him - he was far too used to the black metal that covered the wires. 

Colors of red, blue, yellow, and green merged onto circuit boards and wrapped around each other, going through the lightweight steel structures that ran within his arm that supported the technology. Each steel tube acted as a bone, those being attached to thicker wires near his elbow that ran up his upper arm. Those thick wires gave him the ability to lift things four times his weight. 

After picking around the broken wires and damaged pieces of metal that clung by thin threads, he was able to determine that there was at least four days work set up for him, possibly more if he chose to do something else. 

“He just had to shoot me twice…” Rhys grumbled to himself, knowing full well that as soon as his arm was fixed he was going to receive contracts left and right - most likely from both Atlas and Hyperion if Jack was keeping tabs on him. He stood after organizing the pieces of his arm that could be salvaged (nuts, bolts, certain wires, and of course the protective outer shell) and made his way out to the caravan parked around the block. He found a toolbox he could use, the one he normally brought around with him for situations like this, and toted it back to the hideout. Rhys avoided seeing his friends for the time being, wanting to focus on fixing his arm. The faster it was done the faster he could continue searching for a Vault as well as getting money.

He returned to the room as slyly as he could, removing his shirt so that he could work on his shoulder as well. Scars littered his body at different intervals, though he tried to avoid looking at them for the time being. 

The next three hours of experimentally prodding and grabbing wires to see which ones did what  left him irritated, frustrated, and slightly sweating, the beads of perspiration sliding down his bare chest slowly. When he thought he had found the wires that connected to his fingers and allowed him movement, the next minute they’d cause something to spark on one of the circuit boards and cease working. Then, when he dislodged one of the shattered circuit boards, his fingers began to twitch and spaz out, making it that much harder for him to accurately remove anything else. 

With a loud groan he flopped his arm back onto the table, deciding that he needed a break, otherwise he was going to snap all the wires in his arm out of frustration. He paced around his room, letting his arm progressively die down in its spazzing. The first thing that popped into his mind as he was pacing was when he got that bionic arm; it had been so long ago, and a memory that he tried to forget. It was his own stupidity that led to this arm, but without it he’d be much weaker. 

As much of a pain it was to repair it, this bionic arm gave him the opportunity and ability to do as he wished. 

Keeping that in mind, he returned to work, managing to replace multiple circuit boards within the hour. He grabbed a soldering iron and began to “cement” the boards into place, the sparking now officially stopped with all the broken ones discarded. The task proved to be tedious and long, but his mind stayed focus on it. However, with doing the same thing over and over again, his thoughts wandered to how he got this arm - even with it being so many years ago, sometimes he still felt the phantom pain in it. 

~~~

_ A cocky gait brought his feet crunching through freshly fallen snow, the grin on his lips deterring any suspicions of discomfort from the cold that nipped at the exposed flesh of cheeks and nose. Gusts of wind disturbed the new layer of snow, sending it billowing in tiny tornadoes before falling to the ground once more. His knees bent as he dipped to scoop up a handful of it, not minding the tingling sensation it left on his hands.  _

_ There was something fascinating about the frozen tundra around him, as if it were all his to explore. Being alone for the first time certainly had its perks; like the way he noticed the flakes that fell gracefully to the ground were ranging in various shapes and sizes, or how the wind made the snow look like falling droplets of powder that could be eaten, or how the distant mountains were engulfed by dark clouds that cast a blue haze over the tundra. Rhys was excited for every little thing.  _

_ The young teen, only just turned 17 a few weeks ago, had insisted to his mentor that he could handle going off by himself. Zer0 was adamant about Rhys staying and training more, but being the cocky teen he had become, he left anyhow. It had been several weeks since he last saw his mentor, Rhys was thoroughly enjoying his time on his own.  _

_ He stayed on the downlow, not wanting to attract the attention of too many bandits, but he did test his skills every now and then by invading bandit camps or by attacking the various wildlife on Pandora. These little outings he’d have with himself only instilled more overconfidence in himself - he merely tooted his own horn instead of realizing his true capabilities and limits.  _

_ Rhys had been wandering the frozen tundra of Pandora for weeks, taking shelter in abandoned houses or in small towns he found. He enjoyed the nipping cold far more than he let on, the cold weather allowing for beautiful scenery and snow covered mountains. Without a set destination in mind, he ended up simply adventuring by himself. He scoured cliff sides and found treasures that bandits had long since deserted, finding guns that he’d end up carrying with him for years to come. He would go across frozen rivers and discover different wildlife that grew - mushrooms, vines, killer plants that lay in wait. Everything he uncovered elated him to no end, the mass amount of areas that were left unexplored by the people of Pandora allowing him to enjoy these sights for himself.  _

_ Arrogance accompanied the cockiness that he had developed. He believed that he was becoming one of the greatest Vault Hunters in all of Pandora, and that led to some parlous decisions. Many of his fast-thinking actions came from what he thought he had in his power, not what he could actually accomplish. That, inevitably, led to wounds and injuries that wouldn’t have been there had he thought more seriously about his capability.  _

_ A snowstorm had just passed through Three Horns Divide, leaving the area snow laden and blanketed in a shimmering white atmosphere. Rhys had spent the night in a town that belonged to the Crimson Lancers, the people being friendly enough to allow him at least one nights rest before ushering him along. Being thrust back out into the cold, arid place, he was able to realize just how vast Pandora seemed to get after each day - there was an endless amount of places for him to explore.  _

_ His mind had been drifting, thoughts of his friends and mentor clouding his mind, when he stumbled into a nest of bullymongs. They clambered out of their high caves, letting out ferocious roars, their iron grips raking down the sides of their caves as they hopped down. Rhys had gone from daydreaming to his fighting mode in no time flat, his right hand reaching behind him to grab his sword.  _

_ “Oh, come on! You think you guys can really hurt me?” Rhys called out to the bullymongs, deflecting one of the ice chunks the Slinger threw at him from a distance. He smirked, the overwhelming feeling of superiority surging through his body in a moments notice. Brat bullymongs came charging at him, Rhys side stepping at the last moment only to slice his sword through their arms, leaving them roaring in pain.  _

_ The brunette only grew in confidence the longer he fought, slaying bullymongs left and right, his blade being covered in blood by the time he had taken down five of the raging beasts. Blood had splattered against the front of his clothes, his breathing becoming ragged quickly, the strain from his body only increasing with each fight that he pushed himself too far in. He could feel his tense muscles, the way each of his movements were getting heavier, but he pushed on.  _

_ Adult bullymongs began to emerge, their rage echoing around the quiet area they were nested in. Monglets attempted to get close to use their undeveloped arms to attack, but Rhys was quick to end their life, the smirk growing on his lips with each kill. Most would look at him and see just another bandit, but to him, he was more than that; he was a Vault Hunter. A cocky one.  _

_ “That all you shits got?” Rhys challenged, the silence after slaying the last adult seeming deafening. Scarlet stained the pristine snow in blotches and splatters, that being the only color that stood out amongst the white. Rhys sighed in disappointment, his guard going down as he realized that the large beasts were no match for him. “Damn, and here I was hoping for a fight…” Rhys muttered to himself, stretching his tense limbs for a brief moment.  _

_ He looked towards his right, picking a direction in which he would take himself next, when he heard a grunt and growl from his left. The smirk that had faded returned with a passion, the excitement bubbling up inside him once again. “Someone’s late to the party. Oh, you better be a big guy.” Rhys cooed, his head whipping to the left a moment later. The first thing he noticed was the furious Slinger, its breath fogging up in front of it before fading into the crisp, cold air. The next thing - the large chunk of ice that was being projectiled at him much faster than he could avoid.  _

_ Rhys’s arms went up to block his face from the ice, but it was too late. The chunk slammed into the left side of his head, breaking into smaller pieces from the impact with his skull. His body was thrown to the ground with it, his body dipping into the snow. A piercing ringing ran throughout his head, his skull pounding from the impact, his vision in his left eye completely dark. _

_ The thumping in the ground from surging bullymongs running towards him put him into a dazed alertness. His left hand held his head, warm liquid seeping onto his cold fingers that let him realize just how badly he was injured. Attempting to forget that for the time being, he fumbled to try and grip the handle of his sword, though when he managed to grab the familiar hilt, his clutch wasn’t strong enough to even pull it from its holster.  _

_ Rhys swallowed thickly, the loud ringing never leaving his ears. The only way he knew where the bullymongs were were based on their thundering steps. Rhys tried to stand but with the intense ringing and the blurry vision, he only managed to fall back into the snow with a thump. The thought of, “I’m going to die here,” swarmed by and repeated itself multiple times.  _

_ Instead of instant death when a large - no doubt, adult - bullymong ended up beside him, he felt a gigantic hand slash beneath him, ripping open his shirt with claws as it flung him only a few feet from his original spot. Hot liquid began to pour down his chest as he landed on his back, chest rising and falling in short breaths with the now obvious pain, his breath being forced from his lungs with the impact of claws on flesh. His chest felt tight, the slashes from the bullymongs claws leaving him to gasp for what little breath he could obtain with the new wounds.  _

_ Rhys turned his attention to the adult bullymong, his heart racing much faster as he once again tried to grab his sword, his right hand fumbling with the hilt. That only served to anger the creature more, its giant hand wrapping around Rhys’s right arm. As soon as the bullymong clenched its hand, the sickening sound of a crack sounded in his head. The ringing had ceased for the moment, the pain from his arm being crushed in more than one place forcing screams of agony out. Each little movement the bullymong made with its massive hand crushed more of his bones in his arm; first his humerus, followed by his elbow, leading to the ultimate crush and crack of his radius and ulna, each bone after the main were broken being lost in a flurry of white hot pain.  _

_ The bullymong didn’t stop at a simple arm crush, however. It roared loud in Rhys’s face, the brunette flinching and letting out another scream of pain as he felt himself lifted from the soft snow. The ringing had returned in his ears, the burst of newfound pain in his shoulder increasing from the way he was being manhandled, the weight on his shoulder forcing it to dislocate. He feebly kicked his legs in the air, the draining feeling of consciousness in his mind becoming evident. If he passed out, he was sure he wasn’t going to wake up.  _

_ The sudden rush of snow meeting his body instead of a stiff rock wall forced him to try and see what had happened to the bullymong. His bleary vision only offered him the slender shape of another person, ears registering the howl of pain that the bullymong emitted as a sleek black and teal sword was shoved through its abdomen, the large body collapsing on its side a moment later. The familiarity of the person who had saved him caused him to relax back onto the snow, his body tense still, breaths coming out in pained gasps.  _

_ Paying any further attention to his mentors agile body and fast actions were lost to Rhys, his eyes slipping shut as the pain from his arm and the tightness in his chest from the scratches made it nearly impossible to think of the cold that seeped into his clothes. He hissed in breaths, left hand weakly going to press into the slowly bleeding wounds on his chest. He had to move, to stand, but when he tried, his limbs only seemed to get heavier.  _

_ “S-shit…” He seethed out, the crushing pain in his arm bringing tears into his eyes. It was the worst pain he had ever felt - nothing in the past five years of training had been this serious of an injury.  _

_ The ringing in his head subsided only slightly, but his vision in his left eye didn’t begin to return. Pitch darkness clouded it, leaving his right eye to do all the work of clearing up his vision. With the damage done and the threat gone, Rhys looked towards his mentor as he approached, trying to speak to him through his clenched teeth. “W-well, I guess I misjudged the enemy.”  _

_ “You are in need of / assistance. Do not worry / I have you.” Zer0 spoke calmly, leaning down to help Rhys onto his feet slowly. The brunette cursed under his breath with each miniscule movement, his arm swinging by his side uselessly. He didn’t dare look at it, knowing that it would be a gnarly sight that he would never be able to unsee.  _

_ “I screwed up, Z-Zer0,” Rhys coughed out, his body wracked with shivers that were caused from a mixture of pain and cold. “I’m… sorry.”  _

_ Zer0 hummed in reply, his lithe arm sliding around Rhys’s midsection to help keep him up, forcing the brunettes left arm over his shoulders. “Don’t apologize. / You wanted to venture out / alone. A mistake.” Zer0 commented, a dry chuckle passing Rhys’s lips as the alien led him out of the bullymong area.  _

_ “Clearly,” Rhys bit his tongue to avoid letting out a whimper that threatened to pass his lips. “Guess I’m done with Vault hunting, huh?” _

_ “Not necessarily. /” Zer0 replied, his pace slowing down for Rhys to be able to try and catch his breath. “We will find a doctor and / return to training.”  _

_ Rhys scoffed in response, his feet tripping over themselves slightly as they went up the slope, “I doubt I’ll be able to do anything, Zer0. Y-you do see how destroyed my arm is, right?” _

_ “Don’t lose hope just yet. /” Zer0 spoke, readjusting his arm to hoist Rhys up better. Rhys didn’t attempt to speak any further after that, his breaths ragged and feet heavy as lead. The rest of the walk to the Catch-A-Ride car that Zer0 had abandoned a mile back was silent, Rhys only emitting a groan of pain every now and then or asking to slow down. The bleeding on his chest had thankfully stopped when Zer0 gave him a Health Kit vial, but the nipping air of Three Horns Divide made his teeth chatter and goosebumps spread across his skin.  _

_ As soon as Rhys had been helped into the car, the brunette almost instantly began to drift off into a pain-induced sleep. It took every fiber in his being to stay awake while Zer0 led him to the car, but once he was able to sit, his arm limp at his side, he wanted nothing more than to shut his eyes and forget for a little while. Gratefully, Zer0 encouraged that, telling him that he would find a doctor.  _

_ The next time Rhys woke up, he was out of the cold and in a ventilated building, antiseptics assaulting his senses as a dull pain spread in his shoulder. The first thing he noticed was the fact that the majority of the excruciating pain he had felt before only remained in his shoulder and in his left eye, but it was severely reduced. The brunette attempted to sit up, a groan passing his lips with the movement, his chest still feeling tight but the brush of bandages around it signaled the gashes were in no danger of infection. His vision in his right eye had cleared up, allowing him to see the bed that he was resting on and the vast technology that surrounded him - it was obvious he wasn’t anywhere near Three Horns at this point.  _

_ “You’re awake,” Came the voice of what he assumed was a doctor, the woman's white jacket billowing slightly from her movement, “Good, I’m glad. Before you ask where you are and where Zer0 is, let me explain a few things: you’re in the Atlas building. Zer0 brought you here all the way from Three Horns Divide, and it was a good thing he did. With how destroyed your right arm was, it was smart to bring you here. Normally, we don’t help outsiders such as yourself, but Zer0 was… very persistent.” She explained, her voice soft, a reassuring smile spread on her lips.  _

_ Rhys only nodded slightly, digesting the information with a foggy head. “I’m in Atlas… huh.” Rhys reiterated, a confused expression entering his features. Atlas was a high-tech company, and the last thing he expected was to be helped by them. While they produced high powered weapons, they never seemed like the type to help “bandits” like himself.  _

_ “Yes, and when we got a look at your arm, we saw that it couldn’t be salvaged. That bullymong really did a number on it,” She continued, her hands held in front of her, “We were going to wait until you woke up to discuss what your options were, but your mentor insisted that we perform the operation right then and there. He said that you would be grateful for it, since it would allow you to continue Vault hunting.”  _

_ Rhys’s gaze flitted up to the doctor, his eye narrowing slightly at the implication that they had done something to him. “What exactly did you-” _

_ “With our technology, we manufactured a bionic arm for you, equipped with a ‘get-away’ type of mechanism, claws, and re-enforced steel that allows you to lift things much heavier than yourself. And, because of the damage done to your left eye, we inputted a type of advanced eye, ECHO to be exact. It’ll allow you to scan things, open maps, and plenty of other little things that I don’t think I should go into detail here.” The doctor explained slowly but in a manner that only proved to bewilder Rhys. The onslaught of information made his head feel more fuzzy. _

_ When she first began to speak of this bionic arm, he didn’t believe her for a second. Bionic arms weren’t all that common and they certainly didn’t come with “powers” that aided the person with it. Thinking that it was a joke, he turned his head down and his gaze to his right arm, mouth hanging open as he saw the sleek arm beside him. Shiny, silver metal covered the arm, it glistening in the fluorescent lights in the hospital. “Y-you were serious?” _

_ “Of course, Rhys,” She laughed softly, her gaze settling on the arm, “You’ll need physical therapy but you should be ready to leave in about a month with a fully functional arm. Your mentor says you’re a quick learner, so I expect the physical therapy won’t take that long.” _

_ Rhys smiled only slightly, about to rejoice with the thought of actually being able to continue his Vault Hunter path, when another thought crossed his mind. “This can’t be free, I know that. How exactly am I going to repay Atlas? I’m not exactly rich, and this arm alone probably costs more than I could make in a lifetime.” _

_ “Don’t worry about that,” She replied, walking around the bedside to examine underneath the wrapping on his left eye. “We discussed what we were going to do for payment and our CEO settled on this: when you’re ready and trained with this new arm and new eye, we would like you to come work for us, as an assassin. Your mentor informed us that you were an excellent Vault Hunter, strong, agile, and we are in need of an assassin. No payment is necessary for the arm, and we don’t require a date and time for you to begin working for us.” _

_ Rhys blinked in surprise - usually money was the only way to pay things back on Pandora, and if money wasn’t the option, it was your life. Instead of giving him an outrageous number that he would need to repay, they offered him a job. He mulled over the option, knowing that Zer0 was an assassin for hire and a Vault Hunter; he could do the same and hunt for Vault’s.  _

_ On the other hand, that would mean he’d be strapped down by this company. Would they interfere with his Vault hunting? Would they keep him too busy to do things for himself? Would he still be paid for his service, even if he’s the one repaying them for his arm? The brunette bit his lip, not sure as to what he should say to the woman, but she merely waved a hand. _

_ “You don’t need to answer now, Rhys. You’ll be here for a while and will have plenty of time to think about this offer. If you decide you don’t want to be an assassin for us in a few years, you will need to pay us back for the arm.” She explained, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But, as I said, you have plenty of time to think about this. Get your rest - you have plenty of healing that still needs to be done.”  _

_ Rhys listened to what she said carefully, taking a deep breath as he reached across his stomach with his left arm to poke at the bionic arm. The woman didn’t say anything else as she left, Rhys flopping back down onto the bed with a heavy sigh.  _

_ There was plenty to think about, but his new arm and eye gave him a second chance at his dream, yet it also opened up a whole new world of decisions to him. _

~~~

Rhys remembered that fateful day better than he wanted to. After the doctor had left, Zer0 had strolled in and began to scold him like a mother would an insolent child ( _ “Now that you’re awake / Let me be the first to say: / I told you so, bitch,”; “I’m never going / To let you live this down or / Let you forget it,”; “Maybe next time you’ll / Listen to me, because now / You know I am right,”; “You’re not leaving till / I say you’re ready. You’re my / pupil, I own you,” _ ). Every time Rhys did something wrong or he pissed Zer0 off after the incident with his arm, Zer0 would bring up that he was right and Rhys was wrong. It was annoying to the brunette at first, but he found it to be a long standing joke between him and his mentor now. 

Rhys bit back a frustrated slip of a curse when he realized that he didn’t have enough spare parts laying around to properly fix his arm. Leaning back in his chair as he rifled through a box underneath the desk, he grew more irritated. He’d need to go searching for parts or buy more, the “wise” words of  _ “If you had listened / You wouldn’t need to fix your / Arm when it’s damaged,”  _ from Zer0 filtering into his mind. 

He cursed quietly under his breath, making a mental note of what he’d need before he stood and stretched, the awkward bending in his arm becoming more of a nuisance. He called out to Vaughn, asking if he’d want to go to Scooter’s tomorrow to pick up spare parts. Of course, his shouting led to Fiona and Sasha inviting themselves along, though Rhys didn’t mind. As long as he had this break from contracts, he’d spend as much time as he could with his three friends - maybe he’d see Zer0 at some point before the contracts started up again. 

Rhys wandered out of his room to grab an apple, deeming that his dinner as he tiredly explained to his three friends that working on his arm took more out of him than he thought. They accepted that answer and he slowly made his way back to his room after tossing the remaining core into the trash. Plopping down on his bed, he let out an exasperated sigh, running his hand down his face. His eyes slipped shut, and he couldn’t help but think of how strange this all seemed to be. The thought that he was Handsome Jack’s assassin hadn’t quite settled with him yet and it was making his head feel… here, but not here. 

He rubbed his fingers over his eyes and did his best to shut the thoughts out, the comfortable bed being a pleasant reminder that he was home for more than just a few hours for once. With the plans of fixing his arm weighing on his mind, he was able to drift into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

* * *

 

The next week of fixing his arm proved to be more than an irritation to Rhys.

Each day, it felt, there seemed to be something new he had to do; first it was just replace those circuit boards and wires that had been damaged, then it turned out the core processors for his shoulder had ceased working, then it was the communications aspect of his arm had been “obliterated” (he took apart the wrong thing and needlessly replaced it, is more like it), then there was the fact that because the wires had been damaged in those two spots, it meant taking apart his upper arm to hook the new ones back up - it was far too much. Numerous times he found himself cursing and scoffing at the fact that two bullets had done so much damage. 

His arm had never been this broken before - the most it received was a graze or a shot the was deflected off the strong metal. The last time he had to fix his arm because of a gunshot was years ago, practically the first time he was out on a mission with it. That only angered Rhys more, as he knew it was his own stupidity that landed him repairing the damn thing for a week. 

However, that irritation, frustration, and anger towards himself and the arm was gone in a flash when he was able to flex the bionic claws, no horrendous noise emitting this time, and he was able to lift things once again without the arm breaking down. He let out a yell of glee, urging Vaughn to give him a call using the ECHO comms so that he could test his arms features. When the call came in and he was able to communicate clearly and effectively, he felt more than relieved. 

A massive weight and annoyance was lifted off his shoulders in one swoop, and it left him on an adrenaline rush for hours afterwards. His activeness led to him forcing Vaughn, Fiona, and Sasha out of the hideout and out of Hollow Point - with no clear destination in mind. They piled into the caravan with Rhys declaring a “family outing” in celebration of his now functioning arm. The other three only went along with what Rhys was so adamant on doing because they knew how rare it was for Rhys to be this excited about anything, and have the free time to do as he wanted on top of it. They packed food, water, and a couple blankets along with board games and cards they could entertain themselves with before heading out. 

The aimless driving landed them far away from Hollow Point and deep into the Highlands. How they ended up from their home to Highlands so quickly relied heavily on the fact that every time the boost was available, Rhys was slamming his hand down to speed them along. Rhys stopped the caravan on the peak of a hill overlooking the valley, rakks flying too high above them to really care about the four standing outside of the car. They stood in silence as they looked over the valley, the distant screeches and growls from skags, stalkers, and various other wildlife bringing a certain beauty to it. 

“Your wanderlust sure took us a long way from home. Guess we’re staying here for the night?” Fiona spoke, breaking the quiet peacefulness that settled on the group, her arms folded.

“Yeah, it wouldn’t make sense to drive all the way back tonight. Let’s just… enjoy this for a while longer.” Rhys replied, Sasha and Vaughn nodding in agreement with what he said. He looked towards the sun that was beginning to fall behind the nearing mountains, that leading to his gaze drifting to Helios, the overbearing H in the sky standing out amongst the background of Elpis. “Ah, the stars look beautiful way out here - have you guys been out this way before?” 

“I don’t think so. We generally stay near Hollow Point since it’s where home is,” Sasha explained, “And knowing where Atlas is, I don’t think Vaughn has been out this far either.” 

Vaughn shook his head, “Nope, been staying near the bases for the most part. You’re really the only one who’s been the furthest from Hollow Point, Rhys.”

Rhys shrugged, “It’s not always fun and games, don’t get that wrong. Some places aren’t the best to see. The Highlands, though - they’re pretty amazing. Danger is everywhere but it’s got a charm to it.” Rhys explained, turning his back to the valley, “But, since we’re staying here tonight, we should get a fire going and start cooking something. I don’t know about you guys but I am starving.” The three made noises of agreeance, the four dispersing to go and collect firewood, stones, and begin cooking dinner. 

The slow descent of night was a calming reminder. After the four had set up their small camp and began to cook together, that was when things got to be more entertaining. They spent the time sharing more stories with one another, telling jokes, and overall forgetting the fact that anything around them actually existed. For now, it was just them and that was all they needed. 

As they shared stories, Rhys couldn’t help but think about how lucky he was to have each of them in his life. Vaughn had been there since the beginning, the quirky attitude and demeanor he had not changing much as they aged. They had met when they were little - what age in particular, they weren’t sure, but according to their parents, they had instantly bonded and it led to a rather formidable relationship. Rhys knew that he could always rely on Vaughn, even when things were bad or weren’t particularly right.

Fiona and Sasha came in when Vaughn and him were around ten (Fiona being twelve and Sasha being seven), the two girls running into them when they were trying to con something off an old man. According to Fiona and Sasha, if they hadn’t ran into Vaughn and Rhys, they wouldn’t have met Felix. After the little run-in incident, the two girls ended up seeking out Rhys and Vaughn in an attempt to thank them for being in the way, and ever since the four had been close.

Fiona was the oldest of the group and she tended to act like the hard-ass mother. Her aggressive attitude and sarcastic remarks seemed more harsh than she actually meant them. Most people were turned off or away by Fiona’s personality, but she had solidified herself as the “parent” of the group. When Rhys had first taken off to go train, she tried her damndest to get Rhys to come back. She wouldn’t admit it, but Rhys knew it was because she wanted to make sure he was actually okay. 

Sasha was his supporter throughout the whole thing. When he had told the three of them that he was going to leave Hollow Point with Zer0 to train, Sasha was the one who was the most excited for him. While Fiona and Vaughn didn’t want him to go, Sasha encouraged him to train and become stronger - and eventually, she convinced him to train the three of them how to fight (which he gladly did). Her sarcasm stemmed from Fiona, but she had a kindness to her that she showed only to the closest people she had in her life. 

While Zer0 was like his parent, these three were his family that he could see whenever he returned home. He loved them dearly and there wasn’t a thing on Pandora or in this galaxy that would make Rhys give up the friendships he’s made with them - not even a Vault would tempt him to lose his friends. 

The night, as planned, had gone undisturbed and was left lighthearted and fun. The four enjoyed themselves to no end, and falling asleep beneath the stars was something they hadn’t done since they were much younger. It was a pleasant change from the hideout ceiling they normally fell asleep looking at. 

Rhys stayed up when the others decided to call it a night. He sat near the edge of the cliff they parked on, his legs hanging off the lip with his hands pressed into the ground behind him, acting as support as he leaned back. His eyes scoured the night sky, enjoying the cool breeze that washed over the valley every now and then. Times like this were so rare for him - where peace was the only thing he felt. He shut his eyes briefly, the quietness of the valley being the only company he needed at the moment, his mind drifting into a blissful silence. 

_ “Hey, kiddo! Miss me?”  _

The sudden blaring voice sent Rhys into fight mode instantly, rolling backwards with a swift motion as he pulled his sword off his back, fingers tight around the hilt as he looked for the source of that voice. When he saw nothing but the slowly dying flames of the fire they created and his three, unharmed, sleeping friends, he slowly slid his weapon back into its holster. His eyes darted around the makeshift camp, awaiting an attack or another call from the voice, but was met only with laughter. 

It took more than a minute for him to realize that it was his comm making the ruckus instead of someone in his vicinity. Now registering the origins of the voice, he glanced at his friends and turned back around, settling himself down on the edge once more as he extended his bionic arm and opened his hand. There was a flicker of blue emitting from his palm a moment later, then the flash of a wicked smile spread across a masked face appeared. Rhys resisted the initial reaction to curl his lip in disgust, keeping his face as straight as he could. 

“Wow, not even gonna say anything to me? Speak up, kiddo,” Jack commented, the usually perfectly styled hair missing a few stragglers that rested in front of his forehead. 

“What am I supposed to say?” Rhys replied curtly, his flesh arm going to cross over his chest.

“Well, you could start with how I totally just scared the shit out of you,” Jack laughed, the grin on his lips only widening, “And then tell me that I totally destroyed your arm with those two shots. It took you like, a week to fix that.”

Rhys scowled at the man’s remarks, the familiar feeling of annoyance bubbling up in his gut. “When someone shoots your arm point blank, twice, it only makes sense that nearly all of it needed to be replaced. Did you need something?” Rhys bit out the question, knowing how easily Jack could kill him - even from this distance - but the CEO’s cocky attitude only made him frustrated. 

“Actually, I did need something. Don’t take that tone with me either, cupcake,” Jack warned, his body leaning back in the golden chair he sat in. “I’ve got a couple contracts set up for you. Probably going to take some time to get done. Don’t worry, I didn’t give you some ‘kill your boss’ one, cause that would be stupid, right? Instead, I have spying missions for you. Looong spying missions. I’m talking you’re really going to have to work out a schedule for missions for me and missions for that shit company you work for.” 

Rhys let out a sigh, his hand running through his hair as he held back the sarcastic remark that threatened to tumble out of his lips. “I’m just one assassin, you know. I can’t really be in two places at once. Whatever you have assigned for me is going to have to work around the Atlas schedule since they can’t know I’m working for you.”

“Or, instead of being a little bitch about it, you just find a way to make it all work and I don’t have to get pissed off. How does that sound?” Jack offered, his eyes narrowed, a sneer on his lips. “I didn’t hire you for late returns on my own assignments for you, kiddo. I hired you for your skill that you apparently have - don’t make me regret not killing you, Vault Hunter.” 

Rhys bit his tongue, the urge to hang up on Jack increasing with each passing moment. “Yes,  _ sir _ ,” Rhys forced out, his voice thick with the restraint. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind and get what I can done. Is that better?”

“A lot. Good thing you’re smart - most people would try to fight me on what I want. I bet you can guess that that isn’t a good thing.” Jack commented, the sound of his fingers drumming against the armrests of the chair coming through the speaker. “So, you’re having a little… what? Get together with your friends? Under the stars? Damn, that is  _ extremely  _ childish. How old are you?” 

“Does it really matter my age?” Rhys retorted, his jaw clenched.

“Well, when a grown ass man is having a slumber party with his friends underneath the stars like a child, I think age is pretty important. I mean, you got two girls there; the least you could do is bang one of’em, keep it interesting while you’re outside in a bandit infested wasteland!” Jack suggested, chuckling immediately afterwards when he saw Rhys’s face contort. 

Rhys grimaced at the mere notion of sleeping with either Sasha or Fiona. He had grown up with both women and the last thing he had ever thought was to be that intimate with them. “I was just about to waste my breath and explain how  _ wrong  _ all that is, but I don’t need to explain myself to you. I’m a grown ass man and I’m going to go sleep under the damn stars, with my friends, whether you think it’s childish or not. I’ll get your assignments tomorrow morning, send them through the network. Bye, Jack.” Rhys finished, not waiting for the man to reply as he closed his hand, ending the conversation in an instant. 

If Jack was truly pissed at Rhys’s reaction to the whole thing, he was sure that there would’ve been a moonshot sent their way or another forced phone call. But, when nothing happened, he let out another sigh of aggravation and stood, making his way over to where his friends rested to plop down beside them. Flopping onto his back, he put both hands behind his head and kept his eyes on the stars, eyebrows scrunched together, his lip clenched between his teeth. 

Blocking out his thoughts of how incredibly ignorant and rude Jack was proved to be more difficult than he had hoped. Instead of falling asleep as he wanted to, he wound up keeping himself awake with the never ending cycle of,  _ “Shut up, stop thinking about that. There’s no need to. But damn that guy is a  _ total  _ jackass.”  _ Little bursts of sleep is all he managed to receive throughout the night, and he was the first to get up when the sun broke over the mountain peaks. 

Receiving the first set of missions from Jack made Rhys roll his eyes, the brief study time he had of the contents and details of the contracts allowing him to think about what exactly he was going to do.  The first course of action was getting his friends up and return to Hollow Point; after that, he was sure to catch wind of contracts from Atlas, and once he had both sets of his job, he’d figure it out from there. 

Vaughn had been next to wake up, the first thing the younger male did was sit up and stretch. As soon as he had managed to slip his glasses back onto his nose, he looked towards Rhys, mild confusion settling in. Rhys rose a brow in the direction of his friend, about to question what the confusion was for when Vaughn spoke his mind, “Why’s your ECHO blue?”

At first, Rhys had no idea what he meant. His ECHO was blue; why? It took a moment to click that it was because of the call between him and Jack that had flipped it from the Atlas network to the Hyperion network, and he chuckled in an awkward manner, shrugging his shoulders. “It must be something I malfunctioned on while I tried to fix my arm. I’ll take a look at it in the caravan. Get the girls up, we should start heading back to Hollow Point.” Rhys ordered and stood quickly, not leaving room for further conversation as he went into the caravan to look at his eyes. 

Sure enough, the ECHO was a crystal blue, the Hyperion network making itself known through his eye. He flipped the network back to the Atlas one, making a mental note to keep himself aware of which network he was currently hooked onto so that his friends didn’t notice the change of color. 

Playing it off like a minor glitch in his eye was easy, and when he returned outside to rejoin the group and help gather their supplies back into the caravan, Vaughn didn’t mention the different colored eye again. The ride back from the Highlands to Hollow Point was much slower compared to heading out there; Rhys took his time on using the booster so that he could enjoy the last few hours of freedom before his time was divided between Atlas and Hyperion. Once the four friends arrived back at the hideout, Rhys ducked out, only offering a brief explanation of, “I’ll be back once my contracts are done,” before he disappeared. Lingering any longer would only lead to Rhys regretting this predicament more than he already did, and the faster he escaped a goodbye, the better.

* * *

 

Each day seemed to go by with the same routine. Ever since Rhys had accepted the contracts from Jack that first day he had fixed his arm, things remained on a loose schedule.

The last three weeks consisted of daily calls from Jack that ranged anywhere between a few seconds long to twenty minutes - depending on how the CEO felt at the given time. Every conversation the two shared was mainly awkward; the questions Rhys answered were snippy and revealed very little information about himself, whereas Jack refused to answer any form of question Rhys had concerning the older man. 

Their brief communication only led to Rhys slightly tolerating the CEO of Hyperion. The calls came about two to three times a day randomly, and that meant Rhys “spending” time with Jack more often than not. That constant stream of connection between the two led to some developing tolerance that Rhys thought he’d never have while he was under the strict thumb of the ruler of Hyperion, but for him, it was better to grow accustomed to the man’s antics than be spiteful the  _ whole  _ time. 

Speaking of the devil, or more-so thinking, the “familiar” voice rang out in the quiet desert that surrounded the brunette. “Well, well, well, got a little break time between assignments?”

“Yeah, seems like it,” Rhys replied, taking a moment to collect his thoughts as he lifted his palm from its previous position of hanging by his side, letting the ECHO comm open itself up. 

“I’m surprised you’re not happier about this, cupcake. Doesn’t it feel nice to get a break? I mean, I wouldn’t know - being the savior to Pandora doesn’t really allow for downtime.” Jack teased, the all-too-evident smirk spreading across his lips. 

Rhys only shrugged, automatically ignoring the conceded remark Jack said, “Why celebrate something that’s going to be short-lived?” Rhys responded, a yawn breaking his sentence halfway through, “I’m nearing Dahl HQ to spy on them for you as you wanted.”

“Well, I gotta make sure my wittle assassin isn’t over-working himself,” Jack spoke in a baby voice, his eyes blinking furiously in the “worried mother” fashion, the smile on his lips only making Rhys grimace. Jack let out a laugh, “Speaking of all that, there’s a couple assignments I can’t send through the ECHO. Gonna need you to head to one of my bases and come back up here.”

“I thought my last visit up there to kill you was going to be the only time I’d ever have to step on Helios,” Rhys grumbled, the thought of entering the space station once again making him slightly nervous. The cramped spaces, the amount of people, the jackasses and the loaders… even if he were protected under Jack’s reign because he worked for him, he could easily be slaughtered there. 

“No, no, no, see - you work for me, cupcake. That means you’ll probably be here more often than not. Is Pandora really that great that you’d rather stay there on that shithole planet than be here?” Jack quirked an eyebrow, eyes darting between either of Rhys’s.

“I don’t know Helios, I know Pandora. For all I know, you could easily kill me as soon as I step foot on Helios,” Rhys responded grimly, standing still as he looked around his surroundings. He slid his hood up on his head, knowing that he’d need to get off the phone soon if he were to not be detected by a group of patrolling bandits. 

Jack only scoffed, “You’re not gonna get anywhere in life, cupcake, if you stick with what you know. Head up here when you’re done with this contract, I’ll give ya a ring next time I’m bored.” The soft click of the call ending and the fading blue haze that emitted from his palm signaled for him to drop down behind a pair of rocks that he had stopped beside. First, kill these bandits, then infiltrate Dahl and find out their weapon manufacturing. 

Throughout the time it took to eliminate the bandits and make his way into Dahl, his mind kept thinking back to what Jack had said. Maybe branching out from the rigid path he set from himself would be a nice change. Instead of doing what he knew for the past five years of assassinations and spying, perhaps playing with danger would be the most beneficial.

* * *

 

Rhys forced his breathing to steady, the blood coursing through his body reminding him that he was still alive and wasn’t as injured as he thought he was. Each movement was a signal; a telltale sign of where he had taken cover. He’d need to move quickly if he were to escape this unharmed - the thought of using his Shock Pulse weighing as a viable option in his mind. 

_ Shield at 59%.  _

Rhys cursed at the amount of shield power he had remaining, his ECHO flickering from the blue arrows that told him of safe routes to phasing through the wall pressed into his back; bandits littered in random intervals behind rocks and buildings, their crouched positions waiting for any movement from the Vault Hunter.

The brunette bit his tongue, wiping his brow with his hand as he began to plan out a route as fast as he could. This new contract he had received from Jack after he made his last trip up to Helios was more than what the CEO had let on. The last month of contracts that Jack had been giving to him were all like that - he played them off to be simple but were actually quite dangerous (Rhys swore that the last mission to the Caustic Caverns to retrieve a Hyperion grunts stolen equipment was essentially a death contract, but the way Jack had acted afterwards made Rhys think otherwise). 

Now, this assignment Jack had given him was yet another one of the contracts he downplayed to be easy. He was right in the thick of Sawtooth Cauldron, bandits flanking his sides with buzzards looming in the distance. The only thing he could think of was to escape and get to higher ground to plan a more coordinated attack, if he could just-

“Holy shit, kiddo, I just have got to tell you about these pretzels.” Jack’s voice rang out loud and clear amidst the quieting area, Rhys’s blood running cold instantly.

“He’s over there!”

“He’s going to be my new flesh purse!” 

Rhys attempted to ignore Jack, hang up in some way, but with how fast the psychos were to charge at him, he didn’t have a chance. “Jack, hang up the damn phone!” Rhys shouted, his sword clenched between his fists in an instant, the swift arch upwards penetrating a psychos chest. “This is not the ti-”

“I only came here to tell you how shitty these pretzels were. Like, these are disgusting, they taste like a- holy shit, is that the sound of bandits dying?” Jack’s voice, muffled by his chewing, changed in an instant, the man’s tone switching from irritated to excited. 

“You just gave away my cover! Hang up the phone!” Rhys chided, flicking the psycho off his blade as he flipped backwards, bayonet replacing the sword in his hand. He could see the surrounding psychos, marauders, nomads, and bruisers, their shouting and guns firing dangerously close to where he stood. 

“I’ll let you fight but next time you’re up here on Helios, you’re trying these disgusting pretzels. I need someone who won’t be petrified the whole time to tell me these things suck ass,” Jack added, though there was no resounding click for the end of the call. Instead, as Rhys shot towards the onslaught of bandits with his gun, he heard the loud, “Ooo, shit! Keep doing that!”

Rhys grumbled at the way Jack actet, though he couldn’t help but note how… strange it was to see Jack so exhilarated about the bandits deaths. It was the most excited he’d heard the man, even if it was for a twisted reason. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts of Jack’s excitement, he reactivated his ECHO, the blaring notice of his shields capacity draining lower the longer he stood stationary. If he were to survive this and get this mission done, the easiest thing to do was to use his Shock Pulse. 

Using a running start, he guided the bandits and psychos to follow him into the center of the camp. He waited for the psychos to surround him, the calling from Jack, who remained on the phone, only egging the bandits on to come closer. Rhys couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his lips, the slurs and lewd remarks the bandits called towards him making the next moment much more satisfying.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you dumbasses not to mess with Vault Hunter’s?” Rhys chimed out, his fingers going to press the button on his tricep. Instantly, his palm emitted a shot of concentrated electricity, there being a split second delay to offer Rhys the chance to flip his shield on. As soon as he was safe, a wave of sparking blue washed over the town, crackling and enveloping the bandits, frying them from the inside out in a flash. The blast only lasted five seconds, Rhys choosing a smaller dose of his power move to reserve the majority of what still remained in his arm. 

The smell of burning flesh assaulted his nose when the bolt of electricity went down, causing him to wrinkle it in disgust. The first thing he checked for after the blast died down, the earth black from the shock, was to see who was alive and who was dead. As he planned, the bandits were all far too close and received the strongest bursts due to their proximity. The buzzards that had been flying nearby had turned and fled, not attempting to take Rhys down in fear of their own life.

_ Shield at 43%.  _

“You know, I don’t normally compliment Vault Hunter’s since they’re all filthy bandits, but  _ damn _ ,” Jack started, breaking Rhys’s moment of triumph for defeating the mass amount of bandits in one swoop. “That was pretty frickin’ awesome.” 

Rhys let out a sigh, now remembering that Jack was present throughout the short quarrel. He lifted his palm up and allowed the familiar screen to pop up, clapping filling his ears as soon as he made eye contact with Jack. The brunette let a satisfied smile spread on his lips, bowing slightly for the screen as he spoke, “Thank you, thank you, but you won’t be seeing that again for another couple years. It’s a once in a lifetime thing to see that in action.” 

Jack laughed at that, “And here I thought I’d call my favorite assassin just to tell him how shitty these pretzels were - thanks for the show, kiddo. Now that that’s all over and I’m done being the nice guy, get the hell back to the mission.”

Rhys pressed two fingers to his forehead and saluted, “That’s what I was planning on doing. Seriously, though, check before you call. I don’t need you blowing my cover every time.”

“You know what my answer to that request is going to be, don’t you?” Jack asked, taking a deep breath. Rhys spoke at the same time as him, showing just how often Rhys heard the phrase of, “I do whatever the hell I want when I want because I’m Handsome Jack, get over it.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I figured as much,” Rhys rolled his eyes, his perfect recitation of the phrase he heard far too much causing Jack to blink in surprise. “I’m going to keep going now - I’ll probably get another call from you later so… see you.” Rhys closed his palm afterwards, picking around the charred corpses of the bandits as he searched for the pair of keys he was told to find. One of the bandits had hijacked a couple Hyperion loaders and stole a bunch of equipment, which meant that it was Rhys’s job to retrieve the stolen items and return them to the base. 

Lucky for him, he was able to discover only a few of the items were damaged beyond repair, but the rest was salvageable. With the quantity, he contacted one of the nearby Hyperion bases and told them to send loaders out to retrieve the crates of goods. He waited around until the crates were safely brought back to the base before making his way out of Sawtooth, going with his feet as he traveled to a nearby abandoned house. 

For some reason that he couldn’t exactly put his finger on, he had a hankering for pretzels the rest of the evening.

* * *

 

After a particularly long mission, Rhys found himself back in Hollow Point. The previous two months of wandering around Pandora to and fro, completing both Atlas and Hyperion contracts simultaneously, had finally earned him a brief break. The payout from both companies led to him spending the majority of it on things he didn’t necessarily need, and plenty of bullets to restock on. Sasha, Vaughn, and Fiona were very excited to see him come back and had a thousand and one questions, but he broke free in order to shower. 

A proper shower was something he wished he had more access too when out doing missions. Normally he found places to wash his clothes, but being able to relax in a steady stream of clean water - that always hit the spot. 

As he removed himself from the water after soaking in it for quite a while, he wrapped a towel around his hips after drying his chest and hair off. Almost as soon as he was done re-styling his hair - the wet locks slicked back in a neat fashion, yet a few strands hung across his forehead in a messy, unkempt manner - a short lived ring sounded in the bathroom. As much as he should’ve been surprised by the call, he couldn’t be. After so many calls from Jack and plenty of conversations, it was hard to be startled by them anymore. 

“Hey kid- oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re shirtless,” Jack started off confident but tripped over his words as soon as the screen popped up on Rhys’s hand. 

Rhys glanced down at his chest and rose an eyebrow at Jack, “Yeah… so? You called me, it’s not my fault if I’m half naked when you call.”

“Why the hell are you randomly naked?” Jack questioned, though his gaze didn’t leave Rhys’s, which only served to make Rhys only slightly uncomfortable. 

“Well, it’s not very comfortable to run around covered in blood and dirt. Gets a little gross after a while.” Rhys replied, a, “are you serious” expression pressed into his features. “If you’re going to act like that, I think I’ll go ahead and hang up now-”

“No, no, no,” Jack quickly repeated, shaking his head, “Move your hand down."

Rhys scrunched his eyebrows together, confusion entering his features, “Are you trying to check me out? Not sure I’m comfortable with that.”

“Holy shit, what are you, 12? You think I’m that much of a horny prepubescent teenager that I’m trying to get you to show off your body?” Jack growled, an irritated sigh passing his lips. “No, pumpkin, I’m trying to look at that scar on your chest.”

Rhys’s cheeks turned a light pink, embarrassment creeping up his body as he tilted his hand downwards, exposing the large scars that ran over his chest. “I mean, you could’ve been. How am I supposed to know which way you swing? One way? Both ways? All ways? You could’ve been trying to get a little something."

Jack laughed; he laughed  _ hard _ . And for a good two minutes on top of that. “Oh man, Rhysie! That is-” Jack tried to talk, but another bout of hard laughter ripped through him and stopped his speech, “That was good! That was really freakin’ good - I’m not answering that either. Leave it to your imagination ‘cause it’s more fun that way.”

The brunette only managed to blink in surprise, his imagination definitely having a field day with that notion. “Uh… well, that’s…”

“So, where’d you get those scars? They look like they hurt like a bitch when they were fresh.” Jack interrupted, Rhys thankful for the change of subject. 

“Oh, um, well…” Rhys started, looking down at the large scars going over his chest. The jagged complexity still hurt on occasion, but it was more of a phantom pain he would feel passover. He hesitated on explaining the origins of that scar in particular; most of his scars were simple stories, but there was a certain hidden past that he prefered to keep to himself and those that were closest to him. Thinking of that led him to dote on the fact that he had been talking to Jack roughly 14-21 times a week (which seemed excessive but according to Jack, he got bored too much), even when he was on contract. Even with them coming from two totally different backgrounds and certainly different points of view, Rhys knew that the two of them had gotten to know each other, even if that knowledge of one another was limited. The constant contact proved to make Rhys understand Jack a little better with each passing day. 

“I… got it from a bullymong. It’s the reason I have this bionic arm and the ECHO eye,” Rhys explained slowly, his gut telling him that this was the right decision as he relayed the story of how he was a cocky teenager who made one giant mistake. Jack was surprisingly attentive and quiet during the explanation of the story, his face indicating genuine interest in the brunettes scars. “If you thought you were cocky, I was way more cocky than that. At least you didn’t come out of a fight with a lost arm.” Rhys finished his explanation with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck as he moved to slip into his room. The seemingly friendly conversation they had struck made Rhys want to stay on the phone just a little longer than usual. 

Jack merely laughed at what Rhys said, shaking his head, “No, kiddo, you came out with a tricked out arm and eye to accompany it. All I got was a mask and a shitload of confidence.” Rhys furrowed his brows at the comment, but as he went to speak, Jack continued, “You got any other scars? I’m assuming you do - being so close to the danger and all. What’s the story behind that one on your cheek, too?”

Resisting the urge to ask his question anyway, he assumed that Jack wouldn’t answer and spoke, “Oh, yeah, plenty,” Rhys moved around slightly, showing off a circular dotted scar that rested on his calf, ones of simple lines on his sides, deep scars on his abdomen, claw like marks going down his back accompanied with straight ones from various sources. “I’ve gotten pretty beat up over the years. Most of these are stab wounds or grazes from bullets, but the one on my calf is from a skag. Others on my back are from those pesky killer plants or rakks - and the big one on my chest you already know. As for the one on my cheek, I got it when I was way younger from a couple of bandits.” Rhys explained as concisely as he could, not wanting to go into full detail for every little scar; he didn’t exactly remember each one anyhow. 

“Huh,” Jack hummed, seeming to take note of where the scars were with his eyes, “You really have gone through the ringer. How are you still standing?”

“You know, the motto of ‘kill or be killed’ really keeps me going,” Rhys replied, not leaving room for Jack to ask another question, “I answered your questions, now you answer one of mine: everyone knows that you sort of… appeared as the CEO of Hyperion. How’d you really come into power?”

Jack grinned at the inquiry, “You’re asking for a pretty detailed past right there, Rhysie. I’ll give you the short version: I came into contact with information through a certain source and I took control by doing what anyone would do to get power: murder.” Jack explained easily, leaning back in the now familiar gold chair, “I got this mask around the time I took control and after that - well, everyone knows that. I’m going to be the hero for Pandora and rid it of its scum.” 

Rhys nodded at the answer, thinking over what Jack had said carefully, “What… exactly is under your mask? I don’t think anyone on Pandora has ever seen you without it on.”

“Something that you’re not going to see. Trust me, kiddo, you don’t want to,” Jack replied, his tone flat, “Let’s just keep your visual representation of me as handsome, alright?” 

Rhys opened his mouth, thinking first that he’d just reiterate his question, but he decided against it. Instead, he nodded, “Alright. Then, what did you come into contact with that led to you taking over Hyperion?”

“A Vault,” Jack responded instantly, “Believe it or not, that’s what got me to take over this space station. Doing the shit that came after taking over Hyperion was because of that Vault, too.” 

Rhys blinked in surprise, his mouth hanging slightly open. “Really? You actually found a Vault?” Rhys couldn’t believe what he was hearing; finding an actual Vault was his biggest dream yet it seemed so unattainable. The whole reason he had started his repayment for Atlas was so that he could get close to them as they created Gortys; according to them, it’d be able to find a Vault. 

“I did. Totally not what you’d expect. I think it was pretty badass - look where it landed me,” Jack gestured to the office he was in, the gorgeous view behind him, and, of course, himself. “I think it gave me plenty, and more, for what it did. I can see why you Vault Hunter’s want them so badly.”

“I can’t believe you’ve actually found a Vault… what was inside?” Rhys asked, his attention piquing at the thought of someone knowing what could be held inside a Vault. Almost every Vault Hunter had their own idea as to what a Vault carried: prized loot, rare guns, extremely good equipment - but only a few had the pleasure of actually knowing what was inside them. 

“Oh, you know. A big room. A chair. I don’t really want to spoil the fun in you finding your own - besides, each Vault is different from the last. What I found in mine isn’t the same as the one I’m trying to get to,” Jack explained, a yawn passing his lips. 

Rhys hummed slightly, mind focusing on what could be in a Vault if he found one; the one Gortys would take him to. “Explain it more than that - not many people can actually say that they’ve been inside a Vault.”

“Now, now! Ruining what I could save for another story for another time would be no fun. Let your imagination go with the brief description I gave you: a big room, and a chair.” Jack said, a groan coming out of Rhys’s lips as he realized that he wasn’t going to get a direct answer from the man. 

“Lame,” Rhys teased, “A big room and a chair? What, are you saying your office is a Vault?”

“You know… that sounds totally badass - I think I’m going to start referring my office as a Vault.” Jack nodded in agreement, the sudden chortle passing Rhys’s lips surprising both of them. 

It wasn’t very often - or at all, for that matter - that Rhys laughed at something Jack said. The man talked mainly in a joking manner (even when discussing the more gruesome things he’s done) but Rhys actually laughing was something that had never happened. The brunette shook his head, unable to stop himself from continuing to chuckle, a smile spread across his lips as he did so. “Seriously? You’d call your office The Vault?”

“I mean, it’s better than calling it either My Office or The Place Where Kinky Sex Happens,” Jack laughed alongside Rhys, both brunettes getting a kick out of the joke. Rhys wasn’t sure if the hilarity was coming from how tired he was or if he were actually finding the joke to be funny, but for some odd reason, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. The longer he thought about the office names Jack had given it, the more hilarious it became.

Rhys pressed his palm into the bed, muffling Jack’s laughter for a moment as he took deep breaths to gain control of his own breathing. For once he had chuckled at something Jack said - part of that worried him, but the other half thought it was a good thing. Besides everything wrong Jack did… perhaps he had no reason to truly hate him so much. “Holy shit, don’t say things like that this late after I’ve been on the road for what feels like months. I can’t believe you refer to your office like that.” Rhys spoke, his words still chosen carefully yet at the same time they weren’t as forced as before.

“Well, it’s fun giving the weird shit names; my office included,” Jack stated, the quirk up on his lips seeming more meaningful than the previous ones Rhys had seen. “But, as much as I’m enjoying our little pow-wow, I have business to take care of. I’ll talk to you next time I’m bored, kiddo.” 

Rhys was only able to give a brief goodbye and a nod before the screen faded, his previous exhaustion seeming to fade at the jokes. While he should’ve been tired after everything, he found himself being more awake in the dead of night than during the day. If he had rested on his bed, perhaps he could’ve slid into a light sleep, but his mind wouldn’t stop replaying the encounter between him and Jack. 

Most calls in the recent past had been sort of… awkward. Each time Jack called, Rhys felt a sense of dread at the sound of the man’s voice. But, lately, when the familiar beep of an incoming call came in, he felt almost natural. Like he had nothing to dread. 

_ Am I becoming  _ that _ used to Jack?  _

Rhys wanted to shudder at the inclination that he could be getting used to Jack in a friendly way. The frequent calls, the joking…

Rhys shook his head, deciding to work on his arm to replace loose bolts instead of thinking about the possible friendship that could be forming between him and Handsome Jack.

* * *

 

“Rhysie, Rhysie, Rhysie!” Jack cooed, only slightly startling Rhys out of his train of thought. “I come with questions today.” Jack kept his face stern and stoic, though Rhys thought he saw a dash of mischief in his eyes that could only mean a headache for Rhys.

“If you’re going to ask again why I won’t sleep with Sasha or Fiona, I will hang up on you,” Rhys said instantly, stretching his arms above his head briefly before he pressed his elbows into his knees, left hand holding his head up while he looked towards the blue screen that he saw plenty of. 

The last four weeks of contracts had proved to be easy going and simple. Both Atlas and Jack gave him missions that were quick to complete, and for once, they coincided with one another so that he could jump from one to the next. Currently, he was sitting in the Catch-A-Ride that he’d use to drive to to his next contract that resided in the Dust; Atlas had some qualms about some of Dahl’s manufacturing in that sector, so he was to go and investigate (and most likely eliminate some of Dahl’s members). 

With each week that passed by, he noticed, the more he got to know Jack. He heard a few stories that Jack had growing up - old friends, old crazy girlfriends, and something about a lost cat - and a couple of the more interesting ones, like how Jack’s name was actually John. According to Jack, he thought that Handsome  _ Jack _ had a better ring to it then Handsome John (or John in general), and Rhys would be lying if he said he didn’t agree with that statement. 

Jack relaying that private information about himself led to Rhys letting some of his own past go, and stories from his childhood as well. Most of those personal stories were simple ones, like how he and Vaughn became friends with Sasha and Fiona, or a particular day that was when he was training under Zer0 that ended with Rhys complaining for about four hours afterwards from the fact that Zer0 killed an innocent skag pup  _ in front of him _ . That got a laugh out of the two, but that was the extent of their stories. Things didn’t delve much deeper than surface things, but Rhys was able to pick up on the subtle hints that were given towards their developing friendship.

“No, no, I’m not going to ask that because I don’t need to hear for the umpteenth time that they’re just friends - which I still find as absolutely crazy,” Jack insisted, but he quickly shook his head, “I have different questions pertaining to you. They’re pretty easy questions if you’re not a complete dunce.”

“You’re not asking me math questions are you? Because I-”

“Stop talking and let me ask them,” Jack cut him off, the twitch of his lip making Rhys want to narrow his eyes. “Let me see, how can I put this without being blunt? Hmm… have you ever buried the bone?”

Rhys scrunched his eyebrows together, confusion muddling his mind as he tried to figure out what exactly Jack meant. “Buried the bone…? Like, buried someone I killed?”

“No, no - oh, are you too innocent for this? Let me ask it in a different way: ever dipped your wick?” When Rhys only shrugged, still unclear of what Jack was asking, Jack continued, “Ever done the horizontal hula?” 

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” Rhys asked, “You’re not making any sense. Horizontal hula? The hell is that?”

Jack groaned, rubbing a hand down his face as he stifled laughter, “You are so innocent, kiddo! I swear, if you don’t get this I might just die laughing: ever done the ole’ in and out?” 

“Nope, this isn’t mak-” Rhys started, but realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Instantly, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open, shock mixed with horror entering his features as he stared at the screen.

“Still doesn’t make sense? Oh, my  _ god _ ,” Jack began to laugh hysterically, “I’m talking about sex, you dumbass! Have you ever banged some chick? Had her-”

“Stop,” Rhys choked out, his voice a higher pitched than he meant, but Jack was no easy train to stop when he got going.

“-screaming for you? What about doing some weird kinky shit with her? What about another dude? Would you be a bottom or a top? Would you ever do another dude, like-”

“Jack, stop!” Rhys attempted to shout above him, but the redness on his face that threatened to burn him alive was making it nearly impossible for him to go any higher than a cracked voice. “This is so inappropriate and none of your business!”

“I could see you doing another dude, or a chick. Why don’t you just tell me which way you swing? When was the last time you did it? What about jacking off? Do you at least do that if you’re a virgin?”

“I-I,” Rhys stuttered, Jack’s voice ceasing as he awaited an answer. Rhys took a moment to settle his nerves somewhat before he spoke again, “You are so  _ weird _ , never ask me questions like that again! That’s so none of your business!”

“But in a sense, it is,” Jack pointed towards him, Rhys emitting a flabbergasted noise as he attempted to ask how. “I mean, I talk to you all the time - don’t friends know that shit about each other or something?” 

“ _ Best _ friends, maybe, but we’re so not that,” Rhys replied instantly, using the quickest excuse he could find that would get him out of answering such lewd questions. “That’s incredibly private information and in no way your business - friends or not.”

Jack made an offended look before he rolled his eyes, chuckling once again, “Here, here, let me make it easier for you to tell me about your sex life: my last girlfriend was a total psycho. I’m talking clown paint on her face and such a whore. I was in it for the boobs and those legs - man! I am such a legs guy.” Jack began to rant off, his voice teetering enjoyment. “Anyway, she had some great sex to give, I’m talking about, like,  _ insanely _ amazing blow-”

“Ho- my, god, please, shut up, Jack! I don’t want to know any of this!” Rhys groaned loudly, attempting to cover his face out of total embarrassment. “I don’t care about your sex life and I’m not telling you about mine!” 

“Come onnnn, Rhysie, give me something to work with!” Jack pleaded, “Just a little something? Answer one question? I’m dying here for some more information!” 

“Why does my personal sex life have to be some of the information you need? Can’t you ask like, I dunno, something less completely weird?” Rhys hoped that Jack would take his own pleads and inquire on something else relating to him. 

Jack shook his head, “Answer at least one of the questions I already asked and I’ll leave it alone; that’s the only deal I’m making. Take it, or you answer all those question.” The older man crossed his arms as he awaited his next response, but Rhys was struggling to find his voice. 

Rhys never asked questions like this nor did he ever  _ answer  _ questions like this. He always thought something like that was far too personal and that the only ones who could get away asking things like that was Vaughn, Sasha, or Fiona - definitely  _ not  _ Jack. “I… I’m not a virgin, no. That’s all I’m going to say on the topic.”

Jack smirked widely, sniggering under his breath as he pressed another inquiry, “How old were you? At least give that if you’re going to tell me you’re not a virgin.” 

“I was seventeen when I lost it, and that was only because, and I’m quoting it from her, I had a ‘totally cool robot arm.’” Rhys explained, letting an awkward chuckle pass his lips. “I’m not going to explain what position or how good it was or anything else you have to ask, because I’m completely done with this conversation.”

Jack couldn’t hold back the laugh that ripped through him, this time making an effort to actually calm himself before speaking again, “Oh, man, Rhysie, you really keep my days interesting.”

“Well, I must if you keep calling so much. Still surprised you’d want to talk to a Vault Hunter so often, though,” Rhys commented, leaning back with a sigh in the seat. The cool breeze that ruffled his hair reminded him to lift his hood over his head to shield his eyes from the Dust’s sand. 

Jack shrugged, his blue-green gaze sweeping over Rhys’s face. There was a brief moment of silence between the two, almost as if Rhys was awaiting a response from Jack. “Guess you can say I’m having a change of heart,” Jack’s voice was quiet, even through the comm that was usually excellent at picking up small noises. 

“A change of hea-”

“Ah, something just came up, kiddo. Gotta get going.” Jack cut him off, not giving Rhys the time to say anything else as the connection was dropped. Rhys jutted his lips out slightly, his eyebrows screwed together as he ran over what Jack had said in his mind multiple times. What did he mean that he was having a change of heart? 

Rhys shook the thought off and flipped back to the Atlas network, opening his map as he looked to where the Dahl base was located in the Dust. This would be a fairly simple mission, and afterwards he’d need to stop by and visit with Zer0. According to his source (aka, Vaughn), Zer0 was in the nearby Tundra Express finishing up a mission. It had been a while since Rhys had seen his mentor, and he knew that both of them could enjoy a little bit of catching up.

* * *

 

Being home alone in the hideout wasn’t something that happened all that often. 

Normally, when he was able to catch a break between assignments, one other person was here with him. Usually it was Vaughn, but at the moment, everyone was gone. He didn’t mind the silence - he dealt with it far too often to care - but he'd also grown used to the casual conversations that he and his friends would have when he was off contract; it was something he couldn't help but miss when he was home alone. 

Vaughn, Fiona, and Sasha were all out doing different things; Vaughn was at work, Fiona was out looking for good conning opportunities, and if Rhys remembered right, Sasha was currently persuading someone into a raunchy deal that her and Fiona came up with (and really, it’d lead to them getting the majority of the cash anyway). 

Moving from his room, to the kitchen, to the living room and repeating the process about four different times led to him noticing just how  _ quiet _ things seemed to be that day. He’d been alone before in the past few months but it never seemed this silent. What was he missing?

Friends were gone, Zer0 wasn’t around, Scooter and Janey were busy, Athena was out on contracts, Brick, Mordecai, and Lilith were still doing whatever it was they had to do… what else was there? The silence didn’t usually bother him, but he felt so extremely bored and he couldn’t place his finger on it. 

It took a good five minutes of mulling for him to realize that what he was missing wasn’t someone he saw on a regular basis; it was Jack. Strangely, deviating from the now normal routine of a thousand calls a day, Rhys hadn’t received a single one. At first, it was reversed, where the mass amount of calls were annoying and weird, but without them, he felt… off. 6 full months had passed since the force hire with Hyperion, which meant it had been 6 months since the daily contact. He’d be an idiot if he said that he wasn’t completely used to the frequent calls. 

Rhys let out a burst of air, flipping to his Hyperion network with ease. Scrolling through the mass amount of contacts he had collected proved to be a hassle, most of the workers being named for the base he met them at and a strange characteristic that he picked up on (ex: Hyperion E Worker w Jowls at 20). The easiest way he could find Jack’s name was just to say it aloud, “Call Handsome Jackass.” 

Almost as soon as the call began to ring, there was an answer. “Holy. Shit. Is that cupcake calling  _ me _ first? I never thought I’d see the day where he’d be the one to ring me up - wow, what is this, my birthday?”

“Okay, okay, calm down there,” Rhys chuckled lightly, instantly noticing that Jack seemed less energetic than he normally was. “I only called since, well, I didn’t get a call from you. Sounds stupid, which it pretty much is, but… eh. Why didn’t you call?”

“Aww, did someone miss me?” Jack teased, a grin spreading across his lips. Rhys wanted to object but his eyes were drawn to the backdrop behind Jack. It wasn’t the typical office setting with Elpis looming in the background or a section of Hyperion; it seemed far more open than the cramped space station. “No response? I’m gonna take that as a yes.” 

Rhys pinched the air between his fingers to demonstrate just how much he did miss the older brunettes calls, “Where are you? It doesn’t seem like you’re on Helios.” 

“Nah, I had to take a break from that stuffy place. Figures the only place I’d go to is an unclean planet, but, what are you gonna do?” Jack responded, exhaling with a soft noise as he took a seat somewhere. 

“You’re on Pandora? Whoa,” Rhys commented, his eyes wide, “Thought Handsome Jack only went between Helios and Elpis - Pandora is off limits to him.” 

Jack chuckled, eyes shutting as he inhaled deeply, “Well, when you got business to take care of down here on this putrid planet, you have to leave the comforts of your clean space station and epic moon.” 

Rhys was quick to pick up on the toned down attitude Jack seemed to be in. Whatever he came down here for must not have been pleasant, and judging by the tired look in his eyes, it was a strain. Rhys wouldn’t call it concern that flashed through his mind - it was more like curiosity. Everyone knew Jack for the cocky exterior he held tightly onto, but at this moment, he wasn’t as egotistical and arrogant as he normally was; he seemed slightly vulnerable. “What are you doing down here for? Killing bandits?”

“Ah, not here for killing bandits,” Jack hummed, his hand coming to connect with the back of his neck as he rubbed a kink out of it, “I had to check on my little Angel.” 

Rhys tilted his head to the side, wracking his brain to see if Jack had mentioned an ‘Angel’ in the numerous conversations they had. “Who’s Angel?” Rhys inquired, not remembering an instance where Jack had even mentioned Angel in passing. 

“She’s, uh…” Jack’s voice hesitated, lips in a tight line as he clearly mulled over the pros and cons of telling Rhys the truth or not. Rhys wasn’t expecting the man to answer truthfully - there was still a sense of distrust between the two - but some part of him hoped that their frequent contact had given him enough privilege to know who this Angel girl was. If she’s important enough for Jack to see on Pandora, she was a big part of his life. 

“My daughter.” 

Rhys’s mind blanked momentarily, the thought of Jack having a daughter seeming bizarre to him. The initial shock faded instantly when Jack laughed softly, but it wasn’t his usual “I totally tricked you, kiddo,” laugh; it was more of a “I can’t believe I just said that,” chuckle. “You have a daughter?” 

“Yep, she’s, ah… perfect,” Jack pulled at the collar of his shirt, gaze averted away from the comm at something that stirred beside him. He suddenly cleared his throat, face changing from the slightly gentle look he had to his stoic one in a flash. “Anyway - there’s something that I’ve been keeping from you, kiddo.” 

Rhys wanted to press Jack for more information on his daughter, but what he changed the topic to piqued his interest. “Which is?” Rhys asked, curiosity gripping his body. He’d have to ask Jack about Angel another time, but it was obvious the man didn’t particularly want to share much information about her. 

“As most everyone knows, I absolutely despise that shit company called Atlas,” Jack continued, the tiredness that was hanging in his eyes fading slightly. “Hate everything about it - all those stupid weapons they produce, those idiotic scientists who think they know everything, that weak bastard Marodellus-”

“Jack, you’re ranting again,” Rhys cut him off, gathering Jack’s attention back to the topic he started with. “What does Atlas have to do with anything?”

“Right, right, as I was saying; that bandit filled company has a lot of secrets that you’re not aware of. I thought I’d keep them to myself since it wouldn’t make sense to tell you what exactly they’ve been doing behind your back, but I’ve changed my mind.” Jack started, shifting in the spot he had chosen to sit at, “Have you ever noticed the way those little weasels never keep you fully informed on everything  _ they _ do, but they make you keep them up to date with what you’re doing?”

Rhys listened carefully to what Jack was mentioning, the things he pointed out being observations he had noticed but had put on the back burner. “Well, yes, but I usually just let that stuff go. I’m just their assassin, not a scientist.”

“Ahh, Rhysie, baby, see, that’s where you’re naive,” Jack stated, an all knowing smirk spreading across his lips. “They want you to think that you’re just their assassin and that you shouldn’t know the secret business they conduct because they want to keep you as just their assassin for as long as they possibly can. The less you know, the more likely you are to keep doing their bidding. They sent you after me expecting you to either succeed, miraculously, or die. They didn’t plan on you returning, and most likely didn’t want you to return.” 

Rhys only managed a slow nod in response to what Jack was saying, “Before you continue; how exactly do you know what’s going on in Atlas? How am I supposed to trust what you say is true?”

“I’m a man with a lot of ways to see what Atlas is doing and a man with a lot of power,” Jack answered the first question with ease, humming in thought as he tried to think of a good reason for Rhys to trust his words. “As for trusting what I say… what would be my reasoning for telling you all this now? Wouldn’t it have made sense to start telling you these things as soon as you became my assassin?”

“Not necessarily. You could’ve been using these calls as a way to get me to somewhat trust you, get to know you, only to turn on me later and kill me when you have no use for me. I could’ve been your errand boy for a little while and when you’re through spying and having me assassinate bandit leaders you could eliminate me. That’s why you’re telling me this now,” Rhys offered as a viable option, that being the first possibility that came to mind. He wouldn’t put it past Jack to do something sneaky and devious like that. 

Jack snorted, his body shaking with the brief laugh that overtook him, “Not gonna lie, pumpkin, that was some spot on thinking right there. There is no reason to trust me, you’re right.” Jack complimented, his fingers scratching at his mask briefly, “Believe what you want, but I can tell you now that Atlas won’t keep you around forever. As much as you’d like to believe they have trust and complete faith in you, they’ll discard you the moment they get the chance to and replace you with someone else. I may do the same, but I can commend skills when I see them. It’d be idiotic for them to give up someone of your capabilities.” 

The corner of Rhys’s lip turned up at the compliment, a pleasant feeling of surprise mixed with the genuinity he saw in Jack’s eyes making him want to believe what the older man said. “Alright, I’ll listen to what you have to say - no guarantees I’ll believe you though.”

“As long as you keep what I say in mind, I’ve done enough,” Jack chuckled, his eyes darting around him for a moment before landing back on the screen. The rest of the detailed conversation brought up more points that Rhys hadn’t doted on before or had otherwise discarded immediately after noticing them.  

By the time the two of them were forced to end their call (Rhys cut the call off after a certain point, needing to switch networks before anyone returned home), Rhys was left with more than plenty to think about. Everything Jack told him seemed farfetched, but the more he contemplated what Jack relayed to him, the less crazy it seemed. What the other CEO said to him could easily be the truth, and if it were, he’d need to keep himself on his toes. Maybe forgetting what he was so used to would be wisest.

* * *

 

Rhys’s relationship with Atlas had taken a slight turn. He had begun noticing the smaller things that happened when he was at the base, the side glances from the employees that he didn’t frequently talk to, the strange looks the scientists gave him, and most importantly, how bizarre Marodellus truly was. That man was more of a mystery than he led on, and the longer he was in the Atlas base for new missions, the more he noticed it. 

The silver haired man had a tendency to stare off into space for long periods of time, seemingly unaware of the things that were happening around him. One time, Rhys and him had been in a briefing meeting for a contract he was to receive, and halfway through the talk Marodellus stopped speaking and began to stare at him. For the longest time, Rhys wasn’t able to put his finger on the expression he received, but now he was. The one that Marodellus bored into him on more than one occasion seemed to be well hidden malevolence. Rhys had begun to feel like perhaps he wasn’t just an assassin, but a Vault Hunter guinea pig to the massive corporation.

Deciding that picking up information would be better than to be upfront about things and alert them that he was on to their strange activity, he kept his mouth shut but his mind aware. If there was one thing he was good at, it definitely had to be gathering intel. 

Rhys rubbed the back of his neck as he rolled his shoulders, exhaling slowly as the heatwave of air crashed down onto him. Leaving the Atlas building was like walking from the cool interior of a ventilated house into a goddamn oven. Why couldn’t Atlas put their new base in the Frozen Wastes or the Highlands? Somewhere where heat wasn’t such a bothersome issue would’ve been wonderful, and a place where the sun didn’t shine so brightly. 

Thankfully, Rhys’s newest contracts from both Atlas and Hyperion didn’t come with time limits. For once he had a choice as to when he finished them and that meant he could take his sweet time starting them. 

Rhys was thankful for the lack of time restrictions on these particular missions, as he was planning on visiting Zer0 before he got back to his regular work-until-you’re-dead schedule. It had been months since he last saw even a glimpse of his mentor, and while that didn’t surprise him, there were times where he wished he saw Zer0 more often than once every blue moon. But, both being assassins and Vault Hunters, their schedules hardly clashed. 

Rhys exited Atlas and drove quickly towards the meetup point he and Zer0 had discussed over the comms, Zer0 saying that his brief time off work wouldn’t be for long. They were to meet up in Thousand Cuts before Zer0 set off on his mission, and Rhys found it odd that Zer0 was so far out from his more frequented areas. Sure, his contracts brought him all over the place, but the majority of them were Vault related and he tended to stay in the Dead Sands and Frozen Wastes. 

Rhys didn’t think much of it, though, the thought of seeing his “parent” (the best way to summarize why Zer0 was his parent was to say that Rhys accidentally called Zer0 dad at one point during his training) after so long keeping him from peering too deeply into the little details. 

As Rhys pulled up to the small shack that overlooked the valley of Thousand Cuts, he scanned the surrounding environment for any signs of lurking bandits and his mentor. The first thing he noticed was that Zer0’s presence was nowhere to be detected by his ECHO, and he knew for a fact that the last thing Zer0 did was not be somewhere on time. 

Rhys clambered out of the car, stretching his limbs as he walked over to the shack, a tentative, “Zer0?” passing his lips as he once again scanned around him. Still, nothing came up. Thinking he had the place wrong, he went to call Zer0 to confirm before he noticed a highlighted object on the table. Switching his ECHO off, he took a few steps towards it and saw a note. 

Confusion settled in his features, wondering why Zer0 didn’t just call him through the comms and let him know that something came up. Instead, as Rhys read the contents of the note, he could feel his blood run cold. 

_ “Rhys - had to depart. / Was hired to finish what / You started. See you.” _

Rhys had to reread the message about twenty times, his head slowly shaking before he crumpled it. “Shit… Jack.” 

He may have been caught in Jack’s trap, but Rhys was fully aware of Zer0’s skill. Zer0 could infiltrate Hyperion without being caught, and there was no doubt that he could get close enough to Jack to kill him. 

Why Rhys felt panic coursing through his body, clouding his mind, he had no idea. But, there was one thing he knew he needed to do: he had to reach Jack before Zer0 did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment - all your support that I see through your comments really help me keep writing and makes me super excited to do so and put out more for you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't forget to comment if you enjoyed this story so far - your feedback means the absolute world to me!


End file.
